


A Wolf Among Chocobros

by RikuKingdomHearts3



Category: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Adventure, Chocobros - Freeform, Cloud joins the chocobros, Crossover, Friendship, Gen, Post Advent Children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 36,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21875197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikuKingdomHearts3/pseuds/RikuKingdomHearts3
Summary: A strange instant led to Cloud finding himself in a world that was not his own. Not only that but he found himself surrounded by four strangers he had never seen before. The four strangers wondered the same thing about Cloud who just seemingly appeared out of nowhere. What will happen when Cloud meets Noctis and his friends and tags along for the adventure?
Comments: 140
Kudos: 414





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when I originally posted this to FanFiction.net, it was because I saw that there was no proper crossovers of FF15 and FF7. I couldn't find any here, but I am still new here so I am still learning to search. 
> 
> Either way this is my crossover idea for Cloud joining the bros on their adventure!

The sun shined down on another day. Just a regular normal day. That was how it was now. Everything was finally getting back to being peaceful and normal. There was still a lot of recovering needed after the events with Kadaj and his brothers. The healing rain had helped remove the Geostigma, but there was still a lot of repairs that needed to be done. But even with all of that, there were still plenty of days for just relaxing or taking things easy. 

This was one of those days for Cloud. 

He didn’t have any deliveries for make for the day so he wanted to take as much time as he could to just relax and enjoy his day. Though he knew there was a certain stop he had to make first. 

He drove his motorcycle down through the slums of Midgar down to a certain location. A very special location. It was a place he visited often every so often for many different reasons. It was Aerith’s church. 

After everything that had happened with the healing rain curing the Geostigma, the church became a rather special icon within the slums, but it still meant something more to Cloud than anything. Zack’s Buster Sword was now all polished and cleaned up and placed just above the pool of healing water that had come from the rain, and surrounding the pool were the beautiful flowers Aerith had grown.

Cloud always ended up visiting the place whenever he got the chance. It was a place to relax and think about things, but also a moment to think about Zack and Aerith. He knew he had moved on from his past and no longer carried deep guilt with him over what had happened to them, but he still always thought of them. He found it quite peaceful to sit by the pool of water that came from the Lifestream and think about things. 

Cloud soon pulled up to the front of the church and dismounted his motorcycle. He then walked towards the entrance of the church. As soon as he stepped inside he could smell the fresh, blooming flowers that filled the area. He walked forward until he reached the edge of the water. With a long calming exhale he sat down and began to just listen to the sounds around him. 

Though he thought he noticed something different today. There was a strange glow coming from the water. A light blue glow covered the entire pool of water and that made questions in Cloud’s head start to stir.

_“Why is it glowing like that? Does it have something to do with the Lifestream?_ ” Cloud wondered as he peered into the water. It glowed so brightly and strangely he couldn’t even see his own reflection. It didn’t make any sense. 

Just as Cloud started to wonder more, the water glow grew brighter and began to bubble. Cloud, feeling a bit wary, inched back. He still wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but something felt strange about it. The air around the church seemed to change, giving off a strange feeling. 

Cloud tried to think of what could have been causing the water to act like that. But everything he thought of just led to more and more questions.  _ “Is something wrong with the Lifestream? Is it… Sephiroth… No… It couldn’t be that… Could it?” _

With the curiosity and concern getting the best of him, he slowly moved closer to the water and looked over it again. But just as he did the glow flash brightly, causing him to close his eyes and fall forward, right into the water. Though much to what he expected, he didn’t hit the shallow bottom of the small pool, he fell deeper and deeper as he slowly started to lose consciousness. 

* * *

Noctis, Prompto, Gladiolus, and Ignis were wandering around Galdin Quay, taking in the surrounds for awhile as they waited for the day to end. They already had helped out Dino and he said he would be able to get them the ferry they need to get to Altissia, but now they had the rest of the day to relax. 

Since they could just relax and spend the day how they wanted it, Noctis decided that he wanted to get in a bit more fishing in. He headed over to the fishing door and summoned his fishing rod. He was about to cast out the line when a large shadowed figure fell a few feet away from him. 

Noctis jumped back intensively as whatever it was hit the water. It only took Noctis a few seconds to regain himself and see what had mysteriously fallen into the water. His eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what… or really who he was seeing. 

“What the hell?!” he shouted as he rubbed his eyes to check if he was just seeing things. 

There in the water, someone laid there. They floated for a few seconds before started to move slowly. Whomever they were, they were dressed in an black outfit and had blond hair. They moved in the water, but they did not seem full consciously as their head bobbed under the water slightly. Noctis was about to move forward to see if the person was in need of any help when he heard a voice from behind him. 

“Noct! What happened?” Ignis asked as he, Prompto, and Gladiolus ran towards the end of the docks. 

“I don’t know. This person just fell out of nowhere and landed in the water,” Noctis replied as he quickly guested to the figured slowly standing up in the water. They looked fine at least, but now they swayed slightly back and forth. “I think they need some help.”

Though all four of them knew there were questions to be asked, they decided to keep these thoughts for later as Noctis and Gladiolus jumped into the water and waded over to the person. As they got closer they could see that it looked to be a young adult man about their age, though he still looked dazed as his eyes were unfocused and he looked a bit pale.

“We got you now, let’s get you to the shore,” Gladiolus instructed as they led the guy out of the water. 

They brought him over to the shore and slowly set him down on the ground. A moment later he hunched over and started to cough up a bit of water. Ignis and Prompto soon joined them over where they stood as they still eyed the man. 

Ignis took a step forward and knelled down to look over the man, seeing if he had any injuries. “Are you all right?”

It took a few more seconds of coughing before the man breathed in a deep breath and looked up to see the group standing in front of him. Confusion filled his face and bright blue eyes as his eyes darted around trying to take his surrounds. He furrowed his brows as he looked back to the group. 

“Where am I?” he asked, which now brought a whole other level of confusion to the guys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know more of FF7 than FF15, so I am trying my hardest to keep the bros in character. If you have any thoughts or tips though, let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, thank you for the response on the first chapter. Looks like you guys are really curious what I got in store, and I can't wait to show more!

Cloud stared at the group of guys before him. His head still ached slightly, but he managed to ask the first thought that came to mind. "Where am I?"

The four that stood before him looked back and forth between each other, concerned and curious forming on their faces. They stared for a moment more before the one with the glasses cleared his throat.

"Do you mean to you do not recognize anything around here?"

Cloud took once glance around before shaking his head. He rubbed his head slightly. "No I don't. I don't even know how I got here."

"Well… um…" the raven-haired man said. "You kind of just fell out of nowhere into the water."

"Fell out of nowhere? How could I…." Cloud asked as he raised an eyebrow. He paused as he recalled the last thing he remembered. The image of the glowing pool of water came fresh back into his mind. " _Did… the livestream bring me here? Where ever this is? Why though…?"_

"I think before we go any further with this matter, we might as well cover the formalities," the one with glasses said. "It would make things a bit easier I feel."

"Ah yeah, my name is Cloud," Cloud replied as he slowly tried to stand up, though he swayed slightly as his body felt a bit out of it.

"Hey take it easy there," the larger man replied. "The impact of the water still must of dazed you a little."

"I'll be fine. Anyways, you guys are?"

The men gave one more curious glance between one another before the one with the blond hair spoke up. "You mean you don't recognize who he is?" he then pointed to the raven-haired man standing next to him.

Cloud stared at him for a moment, looking at him carefully. It was strange, but the guy gave him a strange sense of familiar. The dark black hair, and the deep blue eyes… it reminded him of Zack. Cloud tried to shake those thoughts of his head though as he focused back on the question he was asked.

"No? Should I?"

"You mean you seriously _haven't_ heard of Noctis? The crown prince of Lucii? From Insomnia?" the blond asked, clearly the most surprised out of all of them.

" _Prince? Lucii? Insomnia? Now I know I really am someplace else…"_ Cloud thought to himself. The gears in his head rotated more as he tried to put things together. Out of all the things that had happened to him in his life, this by far was the strangest.

But with a few more thoughts he thought he figured it out. Or at least had a good idea of what could have happened to him. "No I really don't. I don't quite understand it, but… I think I was transported or brought here somehow… from another world. Or maybe a dimension."

"Another world?" the one known as Noctis asked. "Is something like that even possible?"

"Well I suppose if it Astrals are involved then it could be rather plausible," the one with glasses replied as he placed a hand to his face, looking deep in thought. "My name is Ignis by the way."

"Oh yeah! I'm Prompto," the blond said.

"Gladiolus," the larger man replied simply.

"Nice to meet all of you," Cloud said quickly, before returning his focus to the main task on hand. "Now what was it that you said about Astrals?

"Astrals, you know like the gods?" Prompto replied.

"You think they could have brought me here?" Cloud asked before a new thought came to mind. "Maybe… maybe they were the ones affecting the Lifestream then."

"The Lifestream?" Noctis asked, raising an eyebrow slightly. "What's that?"

Now it was Cloud's turn to looked surprised. "There's no Lifestream here? Then how does the planet…. Never mind. This is all just a bit too complicated I think. I'm still trying to take all of this in…"

"Well then I think it would be best to continue this conversation indoors, it's started to get a bit dark out," Ignis said as he looked briefly at the setting sun. "

"You guys are just going to let me come with you guys? Without knowing what really happened to me or anything?"

"Well we can't just leave you out here, especially if you truly are not from this world. You'll just get lost," Gladiolus commented.

Cloud smiled slightly He still had no idea how he had gotten here or why, and it was true that he had nowhere to go or anything. While he was now lost in a strange new world, he was glad to have come across people who were nice and understanding. "Thank you.

* * *

They now sat around the small round table in the hotel where they were staying at. The four were still a bit confused about how Cloud had just showed up apparently from another world, but they weren't just going to leave him. They all figured if he showed up near them, it had to have been for some reason. Whatever it could be, it seemed that they were meant to meet Cloud.

"So what was it you mentioned before? About the Lifestream and the planet?" Ignis asked, deciding to start with a simple enough question to learn more about Cloud's world.

"It's a bit hard to explain, but it's basically a type of energy that is connected to all life on Gaia," Cloud replied.

"Gaia? Is that the name of the planet then?" Gladiolus asked.

Cloud nodded. "Yeah. I guess by that then, there is a different name here?"

"Eos," Noctis replied. "But now what makes you think it you coming here had to do with the Lifestream?"

"There is this area in an old church, a pool of water that is deeply connected to the Lifestream. I went to visit it today as it is a memorial for… some friends of mine… When I got there it was glowing and looked strange. I tried to look at it, but somehow I was pulled down into it and blacked out. Next thing I knew I was here."

"Hmm I wonder if there is any connection or reasoning that could have brought you here. Surely it couldn't have just happened for no reason," Ignis said as he stood up and began to pace around the room. "Now I may just be grasping at straws here, but how about where you are from?"

"I live in a city called Midgar. It's a pretty big place… though I grew up in Nibelheim."

All four guys blinked for a moment. Not quite sure they heard him right. Cloud on the other hand was confused as to why all of them stared at him with wide eyes. Maybe what he said did bring forth something that could hold a connection?

"Wh-What is it?" Cloud asked.

"What was that you said? The place you grew up in?" Noctis asked.

"Nibelheim," Cloud repeated. "It's a small mountain village... Not a whole lot of interest there besides the old manor and the broken down Mako Reactor," Cloud tried to explain the best he could, but he figured in the end they still wouldn't understand most of what he was trying to say. That is unless there was some strange connection that they had yet to uncover.

"Well that is quite the coincidence, because there is a nation here called Niflheim. But…" Prompto said as he paused slightly. "I don't think you ended up here cause your hometown has a similar name towards a military empire."

Cloud sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He thought about asking about the place called Niflheim, but from their reactions he could already tell that they were probably not on best terms with the nation. "Hm the best guess I can have though is that the Lifestream brought me here for a reason. Maybe… I don't know what it is obviously… maybe it's to help you guys out with something?"

"As of right now I don't see much in the way of us needing help," Gladiolus explained. "Right now we are just waiting for the night so we can take a ship to Altissia."

Cloud was about to ask why exactly they heading there, but Ignis was the one to continue the rest of the story. "We're heading there because Noctis is going to marry Lady Lunafreya so a peace treaty can be created between Insomnia and Niflheim."

Cloud didn't really need to hear anymore as he started to put the pieces together based on what they had said about Niflheim and how they talked about that place. It seemed they were not really on best terms, but this was their one chance to make things better. But that still left the reason why he was there. But he thought he would at least ask anyways to try and see where he could get with it.

"I don't suppose then you would need any extra help getting there?"

"No not really," Noctis replied.

"But there still has to be some reason why you are here then," Ignis added in. "It just doesn't seem plausible for you to end up here for no rhyme or reason. There must be something…"

The five of them then sat there in silence as they all tried to think it over. The longer they thought though, the harder it was to come up with any good answer. It was just a regular thing for people from other dimensions to fall out of the sky. It was just so bizarre and out of nowhere that none of them really knew what to make of it.

Finally Prompto sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "Why don't we just sleep on it and figure it out in the morning?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Noctis said as he yawned slightly.

"I'll ask to see if they can give us access to the other guest room upstairs," Ignis said before leaving the room.

Cloud almost wanted to tell him that they didn't have to do that for him, but he kept his mouth closed as he realized there wasn't much else he could do. With being in a strange other world, why would he choose to go out on his own and get lost? If he was truly brought here to help these guys… in whatever what that could be… then he wasn't going to turn down their generosity. Though the thoughts as to why he was there never left his mind for the entire rest of the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, here is the next chapter for all of you, hoping to get more of these up as I can so it can catch up to the FF version. Thanks again for reading this far!

Cloud stretched while letting out a long yawn. He slowly opened his eyes to see the light streaming through the window. As his eyes adjusted he remembered that he was not in his bedroom. He was far from that for sure. He was instead in one of the hotel rooms in a place called Galdin Quay. Cloud was still not entirely sure why or how he had ended up in such a place, but by now he figured there had to be some good reason for it.

He sighed as he got out of the bed and grabbed the robe that he had been given, since he was currently only in his boxers. He then began to stretch a little. After a moment then headed towards the front door to the room. There was a note that had been pushed under his door, notfilty that his clothes had been dried and were in a bag outside of the door for him. There was a smaller bag to the side to the side of it that had he figured was holding whatever he had in his pockets. He opened the door and picked up the bag and headed to the connected bathroom to put his clothes back on.

Once he was dressed he decided he should head to the room downstairs to see how the other four were doing. After all, it seemed that he Lifestream could have brought him here to these guys. Cloud headed out the side door and down the stairs to the floor below. From there he gently knocked on the door that led into the room where they other guys were staying. He waited a moment before Gladiolus opened the door.

"Well looks like you are finally awake," the well built man said as he stepped side so Cloud could come into the room. He saw that Prompto and Noctis were already up and standing in the room, though Ignis was not anywhere to be seen.

"You're a heavily sleeper than Noct," Gladiolus added with a chuckle. "It's already past noon."

Cloud rolled his eyes sightly. He did enjoy the days when he could sleep in, but for what had happened, he had found himself more exhausted that he originally thought. As soon as he had laid down last night he was out. "Well it isn't every day that you get through into another dimension, so sorry if I was a little more tired than usual."

"Was it really?" Prompto asked curiously. "I mean, do you like remember anything else now about how it happened? Or how it felt?"

Cloud shook his head. "I still only remember being pulled into the water and then waking up here. Nothing in between."

"Aw man, that's too bad. I really wanted to know what it must be like to travel to another dimension. I wanted to know if it was like in the movies," Prompto replied with a sigh.

"Who knows, maybe if we find a way to send Cloud back, you can go back with him and document your experience," Noctis said jokingly as he crossed his arms.

"Oh! Maybe if I had my camera running, then maybe it could document the footage of traveling between," Prompto said as he bounced back and forth.

Cloud couldn't help but chuckle a little at the energy that the other blond had. "You really think something like that would work?"

"It would be worth a try! Otherwise just being in another dimension would be cool enough," Prompto replied.

"Well let's just hope that me being here wasn't a one way trip," Cloud said with a slight sigh. He started to wonder again how he would even get home. He had just fallen out of nowhere into the water. It would have made more sense if somehow the water was connected and he surfaced instead. But of course that wasn't the case, and no one had answers.

A few seconds later the door opened and Ignis walked in. He carried a newspaper in one hand as he glanced at Noctis, giving a pensive look, while Gladiolus started walking over to him. Ignis stood there for a moment, only looking at his friend.

"What's that look for?" Noctis finally asked.

Ignis held his look on Noctis a little longer before turning away and handing the newspaper to Gladiolus, who began to read it over. "It's in all the papers," he answered quietly.

"What is?" Noctis asked, slowly becoming concerned.

Cloud could tell by the expression on Gladiolus's face, that whatever it was, it was not something good. As Gladiolus walked a small bit as he read the paper, both Cloud and Prompto could see the headline of the paper.

"Insomnia… falls…" Prompto murmured as he read the headline outloud.

" _Insomnia…"_ Cloud thought to himself. " _That's the place where these guys are from…"_ He wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to say anything out loud though, as he was still an outsider to all of this.

Noctis's eyes widened as he gasped, his expressed hardened then to looking more mad. "This your idea of a joke?"

"I need you to calm down so I can explain," Ignis replied.

Noctis started walk forward until he was right in front of Ignis. "I'm all calm as I'm going to get."

"There was an attack," Ignis answered directly. "The imperial army has taken the Crown City."

Gladiolus then cleared his throat as he began to read a section of the article. "As treaty room tempers flared, blasts lit the night sky. When the smoke about the Citadel had cleared, the king was found... dead."

Noctis's face gew pale as he stared down at the floor. "No, wait, hold on…" he trailed off as he seemed to be trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

Cloud decided to take a few steps back, into a corner of the room. He still wasn't sure if he really should be apart of the conversation. He knew nothing of Insomnia or the treaty that was briefly mentioned to him the day before. He still felt out of place, but he knew he couldn't just leave. He was there for a reason, and he still had to find out what that was.

"We had no way of knowing," Ignis replied as he turned away as he took a few steps.

"What? Knowing What?" Noctis asked quickly.

Ignis turned around to give his answer. "That the signing was last night, that Insomnia-"

Noctis interrupted him. "But the wedding! Altissia!"

"I know, that was the plan. Yet the reports of the invasion are all the same. How could every headline in the kingdom be wrong?" Ignis asked.

Noctis lowered his head, sadness filling his eyes. "Lies…" He then slowly walked his way over to one of the chairs and sat down.

"If only…" Prompto replied, who was now standing in the other corner of the room, looking out the large windows.

Cloud started to have thoughts about the situation. He could see how upset and distracted Noctis looked and he could understand. When Nibelheim had burned down and his mother had died… he had felt similar. He felt at a loss because he had lost his only parent and wasn't able to do anything to save them. His thoughts started to drift off back to that long ago memory, but Gladiolus's voice snapped his out of it.

"Well then we can't be sure until we see it with our own eyes."

"And that means we go back to Insomnia," Prompto said as he looked around at the group.

"Might not be safe for us there," Ignis replied.

Prompto took a step forward. "Might not be safe for us here."

There was an uncomfortable silence that entered the room. All of the men stood there as they let the weight of the news sink in as well as the idea of heading back to Insomnia.

"Turn back?" Gladiolus finally asked.

All of them then looked over at Noctis as they awaited his answer. He still looked saddened, but slowly a more serious expression filled his face. "Yeah."

"Then we should get going. But… " Gladiolus said before he turned and faced Cloud. "What about you now?"

Cloud shrugged. "I still don't know. Though maybe… I am suppose to go with you guys now. Maybe I am actually to help you guys in some way. I wouldn't know exactly what or how… but it's the only thing I got for right now."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter time cause I am always excited to get the next chapter rolling for the story! Thank you again for checking this out so far!

"If that is the case, then I suppose you should come with us," Ignis replied. "Besides it still wouldn't feel right to just leave you here with no knowledge of this world."

Cloud glanced around to the other three, wondering if they were also going to agree with this. Both Gladiolus and Prompto gave silent nods of agreement, while Noctis didn't reply back or give any indication he was paying attention. He was now seemingly lost in thought over the event he had just heard about. Though after a few seconds he raised his head and looked at Cloud.

"I'm fine with it, let's just get going," he said as he stood up and prepared to gather up his things.

"Right. We must make haste so let us get everything we need and then head back to the Regalia," Ignis intrusted. "Though there is one other thought. In case we come across any daemons or anything else, I feel that you should have something to defend yourself."

Cloud was about to object, saying that he had a weapon, but then he remembered where he was. His Fusion Sword had been left in Fenrir when he had gone into the church. He was now weaponless. "Yeah… that would be helpful."

"I'll show him where the shop is as you guys get the car ready," Gladiolus said as he walked towards the door.

Cloud followed behind as they exited the building and headed outside. As they walked a new thought came up to Cloud's mind. "So, what Ignis mentioned before… daemons. What are they exactly?"

"Sounds like you are lucky then, if you don't have them from where you're from," Gladiolus started to say. "But basically, they are nocturnal monsters that are plaguing the world. They range in sizes and strengths. So if we encounter any on our way back, expect to be helping us out."

Cloud shrugged a little. "That won't be a problem for me."

"Sounding a bit confident with yourself there," Gladiolus replied with a small laugh.

"Maybe I am," Cloud replied back, laughing a bit himself. "I've done my share of fighting enemies and creatures back where I am from, so these daemons shouldn't be too difficult."

"We'll see about that," Gladiolus said as they came up to the small building that was the shop. "Now they don't have a lot here, but if you see anything that works for you we can get it."

Cloud looked at the list of weapons that the small store held. They had several different types of weapons from swords to guns. Though there was one type of sword that did grab his attention. It was classified as a greatsword, but this type was specifically called a War Sword.

"I'll take that one," Cloud said as he pointed to the large sword.

Gladiolus raised a curious eyebrow. "Really? You can manage a large sword like that?"

Cloud didn't try to retort back as he expected it. From a quick glance at his appearance, no one would think that Cloud would be able to wield heavy, large swords. But of course, due to everything he had gone through, they were something he was easily use to.

Finally he nodded, though he did cross his arms. "Yeah, that's what I'll use. Something wrong with that?"

"No, just a little surprised. But if that is what you want, then all right then," Gladiolus replied before turning to the man at the store and paying for the large sword.

Cloud was then handed it, he moved it between his two hands for the moment, He then stood back as he swung the sword around a few times, getting a feel for it. It was far different than both the Buster Sword and the Fusion Sword, but it still was within the same class of sword. After a few swings, the weight of the sword felt right and he faced Gladiolus. He saw that the man was studying him carefully, no doubt still surprised that he could easily wield such a heavy sword.

"Impressive. Maybe if we do encounter any daemons, I'll get to see you really put that sword to work," he commented as he crossed his arms.

"Sure thing," Cloud replied back as he swung the sword over his shoulder. He didn't have a holder for it, but he figured he could get something later on for that. The two of them started to walk back to where the others were.

Just as they walked a few feet, Gladiolus stopped Cloud. "You're just going to continue to carry your weapon like that?"

"What?" Cloud asked, glancing over him.

Gladiolus let out a sigh. "I'm guessing where you are from you just carry around your weapons all the time?"

"I guess so?" Cloud replied, still not entirely sure what he meant by it. He did always carry the Buster Sword around when he had used it. Then with his Fusion Sword he had all the pieces were stored nicely in his motorcycle.

"Well I'll have Noct explain it then, he'll be able to explain it better than me," Gladiolus stated as he continued walking again.

They walked a bit further until they reached a car that Ignis, Noctis, and Prompto were loading things into. Cloud examined the car as they got closer. It was a sleek design and Cloud started to wonder about the technical aspects of the car. Though it led him to temportaily think about his motorcycle that he had left back at the church. He could only hope that it would be all right now that it was being left unattended. But he knew for the time being, there was no time to just sit down and talk about the vehicle.

Ignis looked up as he closed the trunk of the car. "There you two are, we are just about ready to leave. I see that you have yourself a weapon."

"Yeah, I hope it wasn't too much though. I can try to pay you back," Cloud replied, as he now remembered that he did have some Gil in his pocket. He wasn't sure if it was the same type of currency though. He had looked away to try out his weapon when Gladiolus paid for it, so he wasn't so sure.

"It was only 150 Gil, nothing that we can't quickly earn back," Gladiolus said.

"Oh… so there Gil here as well," Cloud said as he reached into his pocket to pull out the pouch of Gil that he had. "Is it the same type as mine though? Or is it just the same name again?"

The four men looked as Cloud pulled out a small pouch and opened it up. Inside they saw several different coins for different amounts. Much to their surprise the coins did look exactly like the type of Gil that they had.

"Very intriguing," Ignis commented. "Perhaps there is more in common between our worlds than we thought. But really, you do not need to worry about paying us back."

"Wait! I had an idea," Prompto interjected. "What if Cloud's from the future! And that's why he has Gil and has a similar sounding town?"

"But then why have I never heard of any of the places you have mentioned or even Noctis," Cloud replied as he thought over the idea. He thought it could be possible, but it just didn't feel right. "I think I would know about a prince at least. That sounds like something that would be in history books."

"Maybe… your really far in the future?" Prompto added, not quite so sure any more on his idea.

"I really don't think so. It just doesn't sound right. But maybe later on we'll figure it out," Cloud said.

The rest nodded as Ignis finished checking to make sure they had everything. While he did that Noctis eyed the weapon that Cloud was holding. "So you're good with heavy type weapons?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, this was the closest thing to my own sword, feels a bit lighter, but it should work for me."

"Ah I see…" Noctis replied as he glanced to the side. Cloud could see that Noctis was still distraught over the information that had been revealed. But he was trying to keep his cool for now at least.

"He doesn't know how to store away his weapon though," Gladiolus commented.

"Seriously?" Prompto asked. "How do you not know about that?"

"Because… it isn't something that is in my world apparently? I still don't understand though what you mean though."

"Basically what it is, is a small… sort of pocket dimension, I guess," Noctis answered quietly. "With enough concentration you can open it and store your weapon there so you don't have to constantly keep carrying it around."

Cloud blinked with surprise and amazement. He never heard of anything quite like that, but it was something that sounded intriguing. "Really? Well that does sound helpful. How would I access that though?"

"I don't really know… it's just a concentration thing as far as I know," Noctis replied with a shrug. "I've never really had to explain it to anyone."

"Hmm…" Cloud hummed as he thought about it. If it was concentration, surely it couldn't be that hard. He only hoped that an outsider from another dimension could access something like that.

He closed his eyes as he tried to visualize a pocket dimension. He tried to imagine his new weapon being stored there until he needed it again. He breathed in steadily as I kept these thoughts and then his grip on his weapon vanished. It was gone.

Cloud opened his eyes, a bit surprised. The four others also had similar look on their faces.

"It seems at least that you have figured it out fairly quickly," Ignis replied.

"Now we'll just have to see if you can bring it back," Gladiolus added.

"Another time though," Noctis added in abruptly. "Let's just get going already."

Cloud glanced at the raven-haired guy again. He could see he was little still worried and was getting more and more impatient. So he nodded. "Yeah, all right."

The sky above started to darken slightly as trickles of rain stopped down. Ignis walked over to the drivers side and open the door. "The weather won't make things easier, let's hurry though."

There was only for seats in the car though. The driver's seat, front passenger, and 3 in the back. Ignis drove while Gladiolus sat in the passenger seat. Which left the other three in the back. Cloud felt it would be a bit awkward to sit behind men he still barely knew so he sat on the left side while Prompto say in the middle, and Noctis on the right.

As the rain continued as they finally left Galdin Quay. And they finally started on their way back to where they had come from. Back to Insomnia. And Cloud couldn't stop wondering what laid ahead for them. He still had many thoughts about everything. And now finally it seemed a new journey had begun for him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much again for reading this! I try my best and it really helps me to know that there are those who want to read this.

The drive in the car to Insomnia was not the most comfortable for Cloud. In more ways than one. The first part was that he was sitting in the back of the car next to people he still did not know too well. Though there were three spaces for seats, it didn't mean there was all the room in the world. Thankfully it was not too crowded back there for Prompto, Noctis and him, but it was a bit tight.

The other part was that they were still practically strangers to him.. So sitting next to them while there was a rather uncomfortable silence in the car, made Cloud feel all the more unsettled. It seems that the silence was getting to the others too, as Prompto started to shift slightly in his seat. Cloud didn't try to stare, but he could see Prompto looking back and forth between everyone.

"I hope… everyone's okay…" Prompto said, finally breaking the silence that was plaguing them.

Noctis let out a long, heavy sigh. "Lotta good hoping is going to do."

"You mustn't lose faith," Ignis quickly interjected as he turned the corner down onto a road, driving steadily with the rain continuing to come down.

"Really?" Noctis asked dryly. "Can faith stop a fleet of imperial dreadnoughts?"

Cloud took in a long, deep breath. He could feel the tension in the car starting to rise a little, but he had no reason to say anything. He didn't even know what he could say. This was still not his world and he was still not fully understanding the events that were going on. He had the general idea from what he saw in the paper, but other than that he was still out-of-place. And yet here he was, along for the ride with four guys that Cloud figured had all been friends for some time. All Cloud could really do for now is just listen into a conversation that he felt that he really shouldn't have been listening to.

"Give it a rest," Gladiolus said to Noctis, in hopes to calm things down before they really got more tense.

"My old man had plenty of faith," Noctis retorted in response.

"Enough," Gladiolus grumbled as he crossed his arms.

Noctis grumbled, but didn't say anything back. He just shifted his head to the side, to look out the window. Prompto glanced at Noctis as worry went over his face.

"The empire lied. They betrayed us," Prompto stated, sounding upset as well as in shock from the news that they had all learned.

"Conjecture gets us nowhere," Ignis stated. "We're searching for truths."

Noctis gritted his teeth as he continued to stare out the window. "All you'll find are lies… like that ceasefire."

Silence fell over the group again, but Cloud started to wonder more. Even though he knew it was not his place to ask anything, especially with how upset everyone seemed, but he had to get some of his curiosity out. There were just things he wanted to know, now that he was joining with Noctis and his friends towards Insomnia.

"Uh… If I could ask, can you guys tell me more about this whole thing? I know you mentioned a treaty with the military empire, right? But is there anything more than you can tell me about?"

Noctis, Prompto, and Gladiolus all turned to look at Cloud, while Ignis just eyed him with the rearview mirror. With all eyes on him now, Cloud felt a little more uncomfortable. No one said anything right away, as they all seemed to be thinking it over. Cloud started to wonder if maybe he should have saved his questions for a better time, but it was too late now.

He cleared his throat quickly after. "If it's a bad time to talk about it… It can wait. I was only wondering."

"Don't not worry," Ignis started. "It makes sense given your circumstances. You are an outsider thrown into a world with no knowledge of what has happened. So your curiosity is not unwarranted."

"There's just a lot to explain," Gladiolus stated.

"Then it can wait," Cloud replied. "I don't want to pester you guys about it too much."

"I think you should at least know something," Prompto added in. "You can't just come along with us without knowing what we are getting yourself into."

"I agree, so Cloud if you wish to understand some of what is going on, we will tell you to the best of our knowledge," Ignis replied.

Cloud nodded slowly as he looked around the car, and his eyes fell over to Noctis. He hadn't said anything for several minutes, and from how he continued to stare out at the sky, it didn't seem he had any comments on the current conversation. Cloud could understand though, he saw that Noctis was probably thinking hundreds of thoughts about what he read in the paper. Even with barely knowing the man, Cloud could understand. It may have been under different circumstances, but he knew what it was like to lose a parent.

He looked away from Noctis though and went back to talking with the others. "That would be nice, thank you."

Ignis nodded back in response and began to tell as much as he could to Cloud. Within a few minutes Cloud started to get an understanding of the empire Niflheim and that they had been at war for years and years. Though just some time ago, they decided to try to call forth a peace treaty to stop the war and everything else. The treaty was not the most perfect of deals, but it had been agreed upon if the war would be put to a stop. Ignis continued to talk on what he knew about the subject, and it almost felt like Cloud was getting a history lesson, but he tried to listen as much as he could.

But then of course they all knew now that the treaty wasn't going through after all. What they read in the paper made things clear that there was no agreement that settled upon and now things seemed to be more dire than ever before. Some parts of it still seemed a bit confusing to Cloud, but he tried his best to listen to everything that he was being told.

Though after time had passed Cloud glanced out the window and noticed something in the sky. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out what it was as it came into closer view. Soon enough two large, dark and ominous ships flew over head. One of them was far larger than the other, but both of them were still massive in size. All of the men seemed to stare at the ships as they moved through the skies ahead of them.

"Look at the sizes of those things," Gladiolus commented.

"What are they?" Cloud asked. These ships were far different from Cid's ship, and from what Cloud could guess, these ships were most likely from the empire.

"Imperial dreadnoughts," Ignis answered. "They transport soldiers… namely, the magitek infantry."

While Cloud knew full well about soldiers and infantry, there was one word that was foreign to him. He started to figure there would be a lot of words and things in this world that he would not immediately understand and know about. But he knew it wouldn't be too hard to figure out as Ignis seemed to be rather knowledgeable in many things.

"Magitek?" Cloud finally asked. "What's that?"

"Mass-produced humanoid weapons of warfare," Ignis replied.

"Really doesn't look like they will be signing that peace treaty," Prompto muttered quietly as he stared out the window, eyes locked on the ships.

"Are they heading to Insomnia?" Cloud asked, though he had a feeling that the answer was going to be.

"Looks like it," Gladiolus ended up responding.

The ships seemed to head off farther into the distance while they kept on driving. Soon enough though there was something out on the road just several feet away. Ignis started to slow down the car as they saw other cars stopped in front of them. There were people standing outside of their cars as they looked on. From what Cloud could see there was a large group of people who looked like they could be soldiers as well as a large machine walked down the road towards the group of people who stood next to their cars.

Ignis grumbled. "They've set up an inspection point."

"If the road ahead is blocked, then we find a way around," Gladiolus said.

Ignis turned the car around and then headed down a small side path just off to the side, out of sight from the inspection point soldiers it seemed. After a moment Ignis stopped the car, as they were now at a dead-end for driving.

"Let's make a detour. There ought to be a decent vantage point up ahead."

Everyone nodded and then exited out of the car. Cloud looked around the area now, first noticing that the rain had stopped. The other thing he noticed was more of the area that he was in. They were now in an area that had a wall structure going around the area, and up ahead there was stairs that most likely headed along the wall.

Cloud continued to look around as he followed behind the group by a few feet. If it weren't for the fact they were trying to sneak past a barricade, Cloud would have liked to explore the land a bit more. He already could tell that this land… Eos… was far different from Gaia. There were already so many things he could think of that felt far different from home.

There was a moment that Cloud started to think back to his home. He had been abruptly pulled from his world and into this one. He started to wonder what could have happened back home while he was here on a journey with new acquaintances.

" _I wonder… does time flow differently between this world and home? Or are people wondering what happened to me…"_ Cloud sighed quietly. " _Tifa… I hope you aren't worrying too much. Hopefully I'll find a way home… I just feel it may be a bit."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just a bit of talking for the chapter, but either way I hope that you guys liked it. I am just trying my best to set up things between the characters. If you have any thoughts though, let me know.


	6. Chapter 6

Cloud kept pace with the other guys as they continued walking along the wall. They stayed lower to the ground, trying to keep out of side of any other people in the area. Soon they came to a across an opening that lead to the next section. But guarding the area were a few soldiers… about four from what Cloud could see as he stayed in the back of the group.

"There they are. Wanna take 'em out?" Gladiolus asked in a low whisper.

Noctis nodded. He narrowed his eyes as he approached the edge of a wall of crates. Beyond that they soldiers would see them and most likely attack. "Oh yeah. Those scrapheads are gonna wish they had a treaty to protect them."

Noctis stopped himself just before the last of the crates. Cloud watched as Noctis gave a brief hand signal, most likely to warn the rest of them to be ready. Cloud thought to ready himself too, but then he realized something.

He didn't have his weapon on him. At least not physically. Everything that happened before seemed like a blur with how it happened. Somehow he was able to store his weapon away like how Noctis had told him. But he hadn't told him how to bring it back. Was it the same method as before? Was it just another level of concentration? There was still much he wondered about this method, but he knew there was no time to ask about it right now.

Before he could give too much thought on it, he saw a blue glow coming from around Noctis's hand. In a flash a weapon appeared in Noctis's hand. Cloud blinked, processing what he figured had to be the summoning of the weapon. But before he could even get time to think on that, Noctis threw his weapon quickly across the way, and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Over where he threw the weapon he reappeared, grabbed it and immediately went to attack one the soldiers. For a moment, Cloud thought it was a move similar to his special version of Omnislash. The one he had used against Sephiroth with his fusion sword. But this also seemed different at the same time. And it probably was. Cloud had to remind himself that he was in a universe that was not his own. Though there may have been similarities, not everything was exactly the same.

" _I wonder though… if that blue glow is the same as the blue glow I saw in the water?"_

Cloud quickly shook off the thoughts. Letting them out and active in his mind was not what he needed right now. Before him he saw that Noctis and the others were still fighting the soldiers. Cloud was only being foolish and standing there watching. He needed his weapon, and he needed to help them fight.

He held out his hand and put as much concentration as he could into the idea of having his weapon in his hand again. He breathed in slowly before he felt the weight of the handle fall into his hand. He gripped it tightly and hurried over to join the fight. He saw that there were only four soldiers, one for each member of the team. He waited, biding his time until he saw an opportune opening to strike. He glanced to Prompto, who stood a fair distance from his opponent. The soldier began to attack and he ducked away just in time to see Cloud trying to get his attention. The two shared a nod, each understanding the silent message to coordinate their efforts. When the moment was right, they charged in. Prompto adjusted his weight and brought down a heavy slash onto the soldier, who quickly crumpled to his knees before rolling away from Cloud's sword.

While Cloud prepared for another attack he saw a fifth soldier running down the stairs nearby. While Prompto continued with the other, Cloud dashed toward the newcomer and took the soldier down with a powerful upward strike. He watched as his enemy dropped to the ground, never having had the chance to fire his weapon. He turned to find that his teammates had finished off the remaining soldiers in the area. No words were spoken, but nods of approval were given before Noctis ran ahead.

 _"I guess once this is over we'll have more time to discuss things,"_ Cloud thought as he followed the group up the stairs and to the left, leading to another set of stairs. He didn't complain about any of it - he was used to heavy combat, after all. But this was a new and unfamiliar group that he fought beside. There was still much he figured he had to learn about them and their fighting styles.

When they reached the top of the staircase, they encountered more soldiers. With no time to properly take a rest, all five of them dove into battle again. Cloud neared his opponents, dodging bullets and parrying attacks until he was within close enough range to swing his sword.

 _"They may have tough armor and guns, but still nothing I can't handle,"_ Cloud thought to himself as he took out a pair of soldiers with ease.

When they cleared the area of enemies, they moved on through the decrepit structures that ran alongside the wall. The others dismissed their weapons and Cloud did the same. Although he was wary of being unarmed in such a dangerous place, he did find it easier than lugging it around while they traveled.

Above in the sky, the roar of am engine was heard. Everyone looked to see another large ship zooming overhead. It continued on to whatever was ahead of them. It was just as ominous as before, with the glowing red engine pushing it along.

" _There seems to be way more ships than back home. Or maybe the only ships belong to the empire… still too many unanswered questions."_ Cloud sighed to himself, not knowing when he could get a clear understanding of everything.

"Hey," a deep voice said.

Cloud looked up to see Gladiolus next to him as they walked through an area surrounded by high rocks.

"Yeah?" Cloud asked.

"Saw your moves back there, I will admit I still wasn't too sure before. But now I see you really do handle that class of weapon easily," Gladiolus replied.

"Thanks, it's what I'm use to I guess," Cloud said, not knowing what else to really say. He wasn't all that used to getting compliments on his fighting. But he could tell that Gladiolus was being honest about it.

"Hopefully if we can get things sorted out here, I'd like to go against a round against you and see what skills you really have."

Cloud raised an eyebrow to Gladiolus. He wanted to fight against him? "You mean like a friendly spar?"

"Yeah, exactly."

Cloud nodded in response. "All right, sounds fun."

After that Noctis singled again, there were more soldiers up along the rocks and even further ahead. Once they defeated the soldiers in the area Cloud could see Prompto staring at one of the fallen enemy soldiers.

"Can't believe these are the MTs," he muttered.

Cloud walked over to him. He now heard another new term, but wasn't going to let the opportunity pass up this time to get the answer. "MTs?"

"It stands for magitek troopers. Easier to say at least," Prompto answered. "It's just so weird cause they act so real."

Ignis now walked closer to the two of them. "But they are only empty humanoid soldiers. Nothing to them except being soulless and merciless."

Humanoid soldiers. It was a new concept to Cloud, but not entirely. He started to think back on things, and Cait Sith came to mind. Cait Sith was just a robot cat plush doll, but still acted real. Though there was a whole reason behind that, making it fair different than the soldiers Cloud was fighting here. But it made him think at least. It was not a similar thing at all, but had again similar vague elements that made him think of home.

Cloud stared down at the now lifeless bodies of the MTs. Their armored, blank faces staring vacantly into nothing. " _I wonder how many there are… Ignis said they were mass-produced, so I can assume that there are far more than a couple scattered around here. Can't believe that someone would make so many of these things…"_

"Come on," Prompto said as he motioned for Cloud to follow. "We gotta hurry."

"Oh, right… sorry," Cloud replied as he ran to catch up with the others.

They headed out of the cavern area and came out to an open area overlooking a large body of water. There was a bridge farther off that lead to another part of land… but from there… Cloud saw something unsettling.

On the other land mass across the water, smoke was rising in the sky. Different areas from the looks of it, but there were streams of smoke coming from all over. Even though the rain was coming down on them, it most likely wasn't helping the fire out there.

" _Is that Insomnia?"_ Cloud wondered. He assumed it had to be as the four guys walked ahead, near the edge of the cliffside. They stared out over the view, looking at the smoke while Prompto pulled out what Cloud could only assume was his phone and started up something. It was another quick thing, but Cloud noticed that the phone Prompto held was far different than his own. But that was not what he needed to focus on right now.

At the moment, Prompto had opened something on his phone and it was playing what sounded like a radio broadcast. It talked about how the peace treaty was stopped due to the attack, and then it moved on to mentioning of the king's death.

But what was heard next came as a surprise to all of the men, even to Cloud.

"… _we've now received word that Crown Prince Noctis and the Oracle Lunafreya have also been pronounced dead."_

Everyone became more unsettled by those words. Noctis seemed the most upset from what Could could see, but he still faced the body of water and not the group. Though what was said seemed questionable, there was nothing that Cloud thought he should say. He had to keep reminding himself that he was an outsider. He knew nothing really that was happening, but he needed to pay attention to try and learn.

Prompto started to fumble with his phone, but Gladiolus turned to him, looking fairly upset from the news. "Keep it on!"

Prompto fumbled with his phone, but ended up dropping it. When he went to pick it up Noctis whipped around, angry embed into his face. "Don't bother!"

From the tone of his voice, he was far more than just a little angry. While he stepped to the side and pulled out his own phone, Cloud got a little closer to the group. He moved closer to Ignis and Prompto, mainly because Gladiolus was on his phone, and he saw that Noctis needed some more space.

"Why would they announce something like that?" Cloud asked.

"I wouldn't have the foggiest idea," Ignis replied.

"It seems odd though… who would give them information saying Noct's dead? Or did they make it up?" Prompto added.

Ignis didn't reply back, he only lowered his head. Cloud wanted to try and find an answer, but his lack of knowledge of the world he was in prevented him again. He sighed, wishing he could say something to help, but he couldn't find anything.

The wind beneath them stirred and a large humming sound came from behind. Looking up Cloud saw at least a dozen of the ships he had seen flying through the sky before. But there was more than just that. This time there was an even bigger ship between the smaller ones. It was huge and flew only a few feet above them, kicking up dust from the engines blasting on the sides of it.

The ships flew over them and carried on over the water, right towards Insomnia. The menacing red glow from all the engines covered the skies, making everything feel even more serious. Whatever the empire had planned, they needed a lot of ships for it. Cloud couldn't help but wonder yet again what he had really gotten himself into. Or really… what he had been chosen to be brought into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to user OstelanExcruciasm for helping me out with the fight scene in this chapter! 
> 
> And still a big big thanks to all of you for reading this, it really makes me happy to see that you are all enjoying it!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years everyone! Thank you all for the nice and helpful comments so far! I am trying my best with this story, but I wouldn't be this far without all of you! So big thank you all so much!

While the rain continued to trickle down, the group made their way back to the car. From what Cloud could figure, Noctis had made a call to someone named Cor. And that person told him that they would have to go to a place called Hammerhead.

But there wasn't much else Cloud could figure out, aside from one other thing. From Noctis's lack in response from Gladiolus, it was clear about one thing. Noctis's father, the king, was confirmed dead.

As they got back into the car, and Ignis started the engine, Cloud wished he could have something to say. He knew the pain of losing family. But Cloud wasn't sure how to approach the subject. " _He still seems on edge from the news… maybe it would be best to talk about it later. Though I don't even know what I'd say. What can I say, or how do I say it?"_ Cloud sighed quietly, not wanting to draw attention to himself as the other talked. " _If Tifa were here, she'd probably know how to handle it…"_

Before long, Cloud could see something coming up on the side of the road. It looked like a gas station that had a sign reading 'Hammerhead'. Ignis pulled the car into the lot and right up next to one of the gas pumps.

Just as Cloud was getting out of the car, he saw someone come out of the shop area. A young woman, who had short, wavy, blond hair, waved to the group and greeted them. Whomever they were wore an outfit that rather revealing. It almost reminding him of Tifa's old outfit, with very short shorts, and a top that revealed her stomach. Though her top was much more different, and a little more revealing.

"No weather for drivin' that's for sure," the woman said with an accent in her voice.

After she spoke, she looked to Cloud with a curious glance. No doubt she was wondering who he was. Cloud started to feel he would be getting those looks a lot now that he was going to be sticking around with Noctis and his friends. But she didn't get a chance right away to ask, for Noctis spoke up first.

"Where's Cor?"

"Left to see to business, and left y'all a message with Paw Paw," the woman answered answered. "Boss ain't sat still one second since he heard y'all were comin'."

"Okay," Noctis said before turning to head off to whomever it was that was waiting for them.

But just before he could head off, the woman spoke once more. "Now wait just a second. I know y'all rushing to see Paw Paw, what with everything that happened, but aren't ya going to introduce me to your new friend?"

"Oh, uh yeah," Noctis said before turning back to face. "This is Cloud, we kind of… um encountered him at Galdin Quay."

Cloud could see that Noctis was trying to find a reasonable explanation for how he ended up joining them. It was far easier than trying to explain how he felt out of nowhere and into the water. Only those who were there at the moment it happened would understand it more properly. But from that, there was no easy way to try and explain it to an outsider who hadn't been there.

After a bit of pondering, Noctis sighed. "I don't know how to tell you really, but he's a friend and is kind of tagging along with us for the time being."

"Well if ya got your reasons, then it's all right. I know things are quite a mess, so there is always a later time. Nice to meet you, Cloud. A friend of the prince is a friend of mine. Name's Cindy," the woman said as she held out her hand to Cloud.

"Thanks," Cloud replied as he went to shake her hand.

"Now I better yet y'all get on your way to Paw Paw, I've got some things that I need to attend to anyways."

When Cindy left the group started to head to a different area of the gas station. While they walked, Cloud couldn't help but let his curiosity show. "Who are we going to see?"

"Cindy's grandfather; Cid Sophiar."

"Cid?" Cloud asked. "I guess that is another coincidence then."

The group stopped walking and turned to look at Cloud. "What do you mean?" Prompto asked.

"I have a friend back home, though his name is Cid Highwind. But I guess Cid could also just be a common enough name."

"You are correct about that, there is that possibility. But if there are any more similarities between our world and yours, let us know. I am rather curious to learn what else there could be," Ignis replied.

"We can discuss and compare things later," Noctis cut in. "Let's just get to Cid for now."

"Are you sure I should come along though?" Cloud asked. "I mean, for the conversation. I am still fairly out of the loop for everything that is going on here."

"While it is true that you are out of the loop, it would be best if you join with us on the conversation. The best way to gain knowledge on all of this would be to hear and learn as much as you can," Ignis replied.

"If you say so," Cloud replied.

The five of them walked further to the location of where Cid was. He was within the garage area, sitting down in a chair. When Cloud saw him, he could see that there was no resemble the Cid that he knew. This Cid was much older for one aside from the appearance. Either way he still found it interesting that there was also a Cid in this world, and at least had something to do with some type of vehicles.

Cid looked up from his chair to see the five men, and his eyes quickly drifted to Cloud. A questioning look came over his face, just as Cloud expected. He had a feeling people would be reacting to him like that quite often if he was going to stick around with Noctis and his friends.

Before Cid could even ask, Cloud decided to speak first. "Cloud. New friend of Noctis, but it's a bit of a long story. I'm here to help them out though."

Cid nodded. "I'll save my questions for later. Right now…" he looked to Noctis. "We need to talk about what you came here for."

Cloud took a few steps back from the group. He still felt a bit out of place being there, but there he was. He listened to the best he could to the conversation that was going on, trying to understand the best of it. There was talk of things though that weren't too clear still, such as something about a crystal and a certain ring. Cloud chose not to ask any questions though, he knew he could at a different time.

Eventually Cid told the group that Cor would meet them in the tombs, wherever they were. Cloud still was very lost within the world he was in, but all he could do now was to stick around Noctis and the others. He knew that within time he could learn more on the way.

The sun was already beginning to set after they had their discussion with Cid. Now that it was getting darker Ignis spoke up, "I feel it is best we rest for the night before we head out. The roads can be quiet perilously at night."

"Agreed," Prompto said. "I'll go and pay for the caravan."

Prompto walked away, off to some place that Cloud presumed where he would pay for the caravan. Meanwhile Ignis cleared his throat a little. "At least with evening coming now, we can better discuss the matter at hand for you Cloud."

"Right, I guess now would be a better time than later," Cloud replied with a shrug.

"Besides, there are things I must ask, now that i have been given the proper time to think about it," Ignis added before turning and walking to were the caravan was, which was on the opposite side of the station at Hammerhead.

"What do you think he meant by that?" Cloud asked as the rest of them started walking to catch up.

"Hell if I know. Iggy always seems to know something before the rest of us. He'll probably tell us once we are all set at the caravan," Noctis replied.

Soon the group met back up at the caravan and brought chairs to the table that was just outside of it. Ignis was currently inside of the caravan, most likely checking everything out and then less than a minute later he came and took his seat.

"Now that we are all settled, I can get to the matter that has been weighing on my mind for the past few hours," Ignis started. He then looked to Noctis. "Noct, I am surprised that you have not picked up on the occurrence."

"Well how about you explain what the occurrence even is?" Noctis asked as he leaned back in his chair.

Ignis nodded slowly. "It is concerning Cloud, and how he was able to store his weapon before. Or have you forgotten that only the Lucian royal family can use that power, unless granted otherwise."

"Ah!" Noctis exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. "With everything that has happened… I honestly forgot about that."

"Wait, I'm confused," Cloud interrupted. "What is the big deal about how I was able to make my weapon vanish like that?"

"Like Iggy said, it's technically only a power that my family is able to have, but I can grant the power to others if necessary. So without even thinking, I granted you the power to use that space for storing a weapon. It's only natural to me, so that is why I didn't think twice when talking about it before," Noctis explained.

"Oh, I see then, but it isn't an issues you allowed me to do that?" Cloud asked.

"No it isn't anything like that. Just giving all the more reason why you were able to actually do it so easily," Noctis replied.

"Ah, all right then," Cloud said with a nod.

A moment of silence fell over the group, none of them knowing exactly what to say. While trying to figure that out, Cloud finally had a thought come to his mind. "If I can ask, what kind of technical specs can you tell me about that car?"

"The Regalia? Why do you want to know about it?" Gladiolus asked.

"Only curious. Vehicles like that are one of my interests," Cloud responded casually.

"So does that mean you have something like that back home?" Prompto asked.

Cloud shook his head. "Not really. What I do have is my motorcycle; Fenrir."

"Whoa! You drive a motorcycle? That's so cool!" Prompto exclaimed.

Cloud smiled, finding a chance to talk about something he really did enjoy. "Yeah, and it is one of a kind too. I had to do some work on it though to be able to have storage slots for some of my swords, but it works perfectly."

"So what do you want to know about the Regalia then?" Ignis asked as he pushed up his glasses.

"Just the usual common things like max speed and anything else," Cloud said.

"Well while we would never try to reach the highest of speeds, the Regalia can get up to at least 70 miles per hour, which is fairly common for cars of that type," Ignis replied.

"I figured as much," Cloud said with a nod.

"So what about your motorcycle then?" Gladiolus asked. "Seems like you may have more you want to say about it."

Cloud chuckled a little. "It's max speed can get up to 250 miles per hour, but I have never had the opportunity to get it to that speed yet."

All of the other men had their eyes widen and mouths drop open. Cloud let out a small laugh, expecting that type of response from them. Finally Noctis was the one who managed to find his voice again. "250!? On a motorcycle?! How is that possible?"

"This isn't your regular run of the mill motorcycle. A lot of work has been put into it to get it to work how I like it," Cloud answered.

"Darn! That just sounds so cool! But I guess it's back home in your world?" Prompto asked.

Cloud ended up signing a little. "Yeah… along with my own sword and anything else that could have been helpful here."

"Ah! That would have been so awesome to see!" Prompto said. Then a moment later he reached to the side and then pulled out his camera. "Oh! I almost forgot to show off the pictures I got from today. There are some pretty good ones."

"Wait, when did you manage to take pictures?" Cloud asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Prompto somehow has the ability to just take photos when he thinks it is safe, rather than actually helping out with fighting daemons or anything else," Noctis said with a slight snarky tone.

"Hey! I do help out! I just also like to grab the pictures when I can! Especially during fights. Action shots are some of the coolest ones to capture."

"All right then, let's see what you got for today," Gladiolus said as Prompto began to show the group the pictures.

Cloud looked along with the others, finding himself impressed that Prompto had the time to capture some of them. There weren't a whole lot, but Cloud found himself to be in a few of them. Whether it was from their fight against the magitek or just some shots from when they had been walking around without needing to fight.

" _I guess this group all has their thing then,"_ Cloud thought to himself as Prompto talked about some of his favorite pictures from today. " _And I guess I am going to get to learn more about them, the longer I am here."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is finally the best thing I could do for the explanation on how Cloud got access to the pocket space stuff. I still am not as versed in FFVX as I am FFVII but I am trying my best. If you guys have any suggestions though, let me know! And thank you once again for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it is New Years and all, I thought to give an extra chapter for today for that reason and all! Also just cause I am excited to share this next chapter :)

Within the Lifestream, Aerith meditated soundly. She breathed in deeply as a smile crossed her face. She breathed in and out several more times in a slow pattern, letting the sounds and sights of another world filled her senses. A moment later she opened her eyes, keeping the smile warm and large. She looked across from where she sat, looking at her favorite spiky raven haired boy.

"He's talking with them some more. He impressed them with talking about his motorcycle, and then the one called Prompto started talking about pictures he took during the day. There was some other talk about storing of the weapon, but that is still something I don't quite understand."

"So, Spike is actually getting along with them," Zack commented, returning a smile to Aerith. "Too bad though he can't actually show off Fenrir. But either way, at least he is doing good."

"It seems so," Aerith nodded.

Zack stretched before laying down, resting his head in Aerith's lap. "You know, I'm pretty jealous of him right now."

"Oh? Is that so?" Aerith asked softly, though she already knew the answer. She always knew what Zack was thinking. She figured out that she was probably one of the only ones that could truly read Zack as clear as day, or maybe he just liked to let his guard down around her. Maybe it was both.

"Yeah. After saving Gaia so many times here, he gets to go off to a new world. Like a legit completely different planet in some other dimension, or universe… or whatever it is. Like that sounds so cool, and ah… I'm also really jealous of you cause you get to peer into that world and see how he is doing."

Aerith laughed softly while she began to gently stroke Zack's forehead. "Always so excited about what Cloud is up to."

"Of course! I always want to make sure my best buddy is doing all right. I mean I know he is doing much better now, but still you know what I mean. Ah… I seriously wish I could go there. You know to help him out with those guys he is with."

"Knowing you, you would go and get distracted by something else. Eos a completely different world than ours. I still don't know too much about it, but they have different magic there and so many other things. You would go there and be the excitable, little puppy, and get lost in all of it," Aerith said with a teasing voice.

"Hey," Zack said, pretending to frown. "I'm not a little puppy… I am a big, excitable puppy. Your big, lovable puppy to be exact. But yeah… I would probably get easily distracted… but only for a bit! Then I would focus on the task that would be at hand!"

Aerith started to run her hand through Zack's hair. "Yeah, I know you would. When it comes to it, you would set your mind to it."

"Seriously though, I wish I could join Cloud. We didn't get too many missions together back when we were both in Shinra, but when we did, they were the best. What I would give to get to be on another adventure with him."

Zack paused while a thoughtful look crossed his face. Quickly he sat up and faced Aerith. "Couldn't it be possible though? In some way or form?"

"Zack, you know it doesn't work like that. You know that your-"

"Yeah yeah I know I died and stuff. But I died in this world, not that world. I mean I don't even exist in that world, but still I make my point. Come on Aerith, couldn't there be some way? Some way I could go there?"

"Zack, I don't know… all of this is rather new to me. I didn't even know that place existed until the gods of that world managed to speak to Minvera and explain their situation. They were somehow able to get through to our world to ask for our help. I don't know how other worlds work or how sending you there, if it is even possible, would affect you."

"Can't you at least ask? Like ask Minvera or the other Cetra in the Lifestream? Maybe they would know or take a guess?" Zack asked. "Please? For me?"

Slowly his eyes grew big, and right away Aerith knew what he was doing. She braced herself as Zack gave the biggest pouting face a grown man of his age could give, and it melted her heart every time. WIth such an adorable face like that, she knew she couldn't resist. Sometimes she playfully cursed his charm and charisma, it was too much for his own good.

She sighed, finally giving in. "All right, I'll ask. But Zack, that doesn't mean that anything is guaranteed."

Instead of giving her a verbal answer, Zack leaned forward and kissed Aerith gently on the lips. Afterwards he smiled happily. "Hey, even if it is a no, we can at least say we tried. Maybe if we can't send me, there could be something else we could do to help Cloud, right? Or a message or something else."

"Calm yourself Zack Fair," Aerith replied as she poked his cheek. "I think this big puppy may be getting too excited over something that may not even happen."

"But that's what puppies do, they get excited at the littlest things," Zack replied. He leaned in closer to Aerith's face, bring another smile to his own. "Thanks though."

"Like I said, don't get your hopes up yet. I still have to ask and see if I can first get through and secondly get a proper answer. On top of that, see what could even be if that second option is in fact possible."

"Hey, either way you are going to try and ask, and that's what excites me," Zack replied. "If not though, I can say at least I tried."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh, so this chapter was not the original idea, but then I got the thought to add this in to see what you all think.  
> Though question, you think I should add in Aerith and Zack into the tag? Or keep it more of a surprise?  
> Hope you enjoyed and have a Happy New Year!


	9. Chapter 9

Prompto had been showing off his pictures to the entire group while the others talked about each one they saw and if any of them were truly amusing. Cloud didn't fully engage in that, but he did pay attention to the photos and to what was happening. Cloud thought to try and add to the conversation, that was slowly diverting into other random topics, but he had no idea what to say.

He was still out of his element and still barely knew these guys. While didn't mind getting to know them, the part of starting it all was still hard for him to figure out. Even as a child he was never the most sociable. Sure he had his friends now that he was close with, but that had taken a lot of adventuring to get to that point. He had a feeling by the end of this, whenever that would be, that it could be the same.

Moments later Cindy ended up coming over to the table and took a seat. "Thought I might drop by now that I got the rest of the work done for today. I still had some things on my mind from before."

"Some things? Like what?" Noctis asked.

"Well about your friend Cloud here. I know ya said you had your reasons, but I am just wondering if I can ask this," Cindy turned to face Cloud now. "You aren't by chance related to Prompto now are ya?"

"What?" Cloud asked, his eyes widened with surprise.

"I agree to that 'what' totally," Prompto added in.

"Well there goes that idea. It's just that on a quick glance you two kinda look similar. Course there are differences, but there are some similarities if you look," Cindy answered.

Cloud turned to look at Promoto and at the same time Prompto had done the same. Sure there was some basic things Cloud could note, like blond hair and blue eyes, but he just couldn't see how the two of them looked even remotely similar.

But soon enough he started to hear some light chuckling coming from the other side of the table. Noctis was the one who was laughing though Cloud could see smiles from the other two.

"Hey!" Prompto shouted. "What's so funny? You don't actually think we look alike do you?"

"Actually you kind of do," Noctis replied before he started to smirk. "It's just the way the hair spikes out. Both of you kind of have hair that looks like a chocobo."

Prompto suddenly pouted. "I've told you before! My hair doesn't look like a chocobo butt!"

While the three other men and Cindy started to laugh, Cloud pressed a hand to his face. He thought of it being silly at first, but soon enough he was chuckling softly. It was loud enough to draw in the attention of the others.

"Aw come on, you don't think it's true, do you?" Prompto asked, looking still a little upset over the whole 'chocobo butt' thing.

"Well not really," Cloud answered. "But… to be honest, it wouldn't be the first time someone has made a joke about my hair looking like a chocobo head."

"Hey he's right," Gladiolus answered with a hefty laugh. "That means the two of you together make a whole chocobo."

"Don't make it worse!" Prompto shouted, still clearly upset by the name calling, though Cloud could see that there was some amusing in it. He figured that Prompto wasn't fully upset otherwise his friends would have stopped teasing already.

"Well it looks like you boys are having fun, I probably need to get back to check on Paw Paw. Y'all have a goodnight."

After Cindy left the area, Prompto let out a long sigh before shaking his head. "Even if we look similar… there could be something there. _Not_ cause we look like chocobos! But I was thinking more about where Cloud is from and stuff."

"You think there could be some connection just based on appearance?" Ignis asked.

"I dunno, maybe. Maybe instead of the future, Cloud's world is like some parallel or alternate world?" Prompto suggested.

"How would we even know if that is true?" Cloud asked.

Prompto shrugged. "I haven't thought that far. I'm just trying to gather as much as I can. But hey! We should try to document this more! Hey Cloud, is it cool if we take a picture?"

"Uh, sure?" Cloud said, not entirely sure how to react to the energy of Prompto.

Though it did have a faint sense of familiarity to him. It wasn't entire;y the same, but once again he had come across another instant that reminded him of Zack. He knew it wasn't a coincidence or anything like that. With being in another world there was bound to be people with peppy personalities and also black hair and blues eyes. It would be weird if there wasn't anyone else like that. But either way… it still briefly brought him back to thinking about Zack.

"Cool, all right!" Prompto said, thankfully pulling Cloud away from getting too buring in his memories. He stood up from his seat and walked over to where Cloud was. Kneeling down he held out his camera and arms length and smiled.

Cloud gave a small smile and then the picture was taken. Afterwards Prompto turned his camera to Cloud to show him the picture. "Hey, okay… maybe we do look a little alike. But I think that actually is pretty cool, don't you think?"

"Yeah," Cloud said looking at the picture of him and Prompto. Side by side he could see that they did have a slight similar look to them, but it mainly boiled down to the fact they were blonds and their hair spiked out in various directions. There was also the thought that Cloud was sure he was the same height as Prompto, but he hadn't really been looking for that. Either way that element wasn't too important compared to the rest.

But then again… if he had a similar look to Prompto… Cloud glanced over to Noctis again, looking at his face. It was still just a very vague comparison, but still upon a quick glance he would think it was Zack. But there were still many differences that made that thought wrong. Overall it was still a weird thing to think about, but it was something he decided to keep note of, just in case Prompto happened to be right about his little theory.

Prompto stood up and looked it over before walking back to his seat. "I probably should make a separate album for photos documentary this, just in case we discover anything else about this weird situation."

"Hmm, speaking of this weird situation," Ignis said, leaning forward in his chair. He rested his elbows on the table with his chin on top of his hands. "The longer we talk about it, the more I seem to notice."

"What are you talking about, Specs?" Noctis asked.

"I thought it was a trick of the light or maybe my eyes just playing tricks on me, but it seems far more noticeable now that it is dark outside," Ignis answered, adjusting his glasses slightly all while keeping his gaze locked on Cloud.

"Are you going to tell us or just leave us wondering already?" Gladiolus asked.

"Cloud," Ignis said, speaking directly to him. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but is it natural in your world for people to have eyes unusually that bright of a blue?"

Cloud was about to ask what he was even talking about, but it only took him a second to realize it. " _Oh… It's been a while since someone noticed that… but then again I can guess that mako doesn't exist here."_

"No," Cloud answered. He figured now was a better time than any to give the guys at least some form of an explanation to his world. Whether or not it would help he wasn't too sure, but he saw no harm in telling them the truth. "It isn't natural, not in this way. In my world there is a form of energy that comes from the planet called Mako… and to put it simply, there was once a corporation that had soldiers infused with the energy. The side effect is what you see aside from other things like enhanced senses and strength."

All of the men were now staring at Cloud with wide eyes, truly curious and seemingly fascinated by his story from what he could tell. Though Cloud wasn't much of a storyteller, or one to socialize too heavily when talking about his past, it did feel fun to see such curious looks. Their minds were fresh and new to what he had to say, they didn't already know what everyone back home knew like the back of their hand.

"Wait so you were apart of that?" Prompto asked. "Whoa just how old were you when that happened? You barely look any older than me."

"And how old do I look?" Cloud asked, trying not to crack a smile. Even though it was all caused by those horrid experiments from Hojo, Cloud's youthful appearance had started to come as a joke around his friends and to others who had never met him before.

"I don't know… um… 20 or 21?" Prompto asked, titling his head slightly, trying to think about it.

"I'm actually 23," Cloud deadpanned all while smiling ever so slightly.

Noctis's eyes widened as he seemingly choked on air. "Wait what!? You're the same age as Gladio?"

"I guess I am?" Cloud half asked and stated.

"No way!" Prompto added in. "I totally thought you would be the same age as me and Noct."

"That must mean you have more experience with fighting than I originally thought," Gladiolus said gruffly. "Now we are _definitely_ going to have to find time to spar. If you're the same age as me, but as scrawny as Prompto-"

"Hey!"

"Then you really must have some skills, especially if you were apart of that soldier group that you were talking about."

"I wasn't actually part of the group… not directly," Cloud admitted quietly.

"Then how did you get that Mako stuff or whatever it was called?" Prompto asked.

"It's… kind of a long story."

"Then perhaps it is best if we continue it another night," Ignis said before standing up. "It is late enough as it is and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Noctis yawned. "That's true… Guess we will have to wait to hear more… whenever we would even have time for that."

"We will see come tomorrow, but for now we should get some rest," Ignis said before heading into the caravan.

Cloud waited as all the others headed into the caravan. He waited outside, deciding to get lost in his own thoughts first before doing anything else. It was weird to think about, but at the aspect of telling these guy's his life story… he didn't feel bothered by it. Normally he was not exactly too keen on having to tell someone brand new everything about his past. Sure he had grown over things and improved his thoughts, but that still didn't mean he really wanted to have to explain it all. But speaking to the four men, itl gave him that refreshing feeling that made everything seem easier. He may have just met them, but there was already a sense of understanding that he could feel, one that made things easier when it came to talking, or even just being friendly in general.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to figure out where to go with things and decided on one more chapter of some good talks. Next chapter I will try my best to get back on the plot, I just need to study up on Cor and everything else! 
> 
> Thank you all so much though for the love on this story! It really means a lot to me!


	10. Chapter 10

When morning came the group woke up and headed right out to the diner for something to start off the day. While the names of the food sounded completely different from back home, it sure did smell just as good. Cloud still tried what he ordered and it tasted just as good as it smelled.

Afterwards the five men headed outside and walked towards the car. "So, what's the plan?" Cloud asked as soon as they got closer to the vehicle.

"We head out to find Cor at the tombs that are northwest of here and see what he has to say," Ignis answered. "But as Cid told us yesterday we head to the outpost first before that."

"Right."

It was still a lot of take in, but Cloud was still trying his best to understand as much as he could. Though he knew there would have to be a time later on where he asked the questions that were on his mind. Last night proved to help in some ways, but they still opened up a new floodgate of other questions.

Though he had learned the reason why he could magically store away his weapon, that still left him wondering about it. The power to keep a weapon stored in a pocket space, it was still strange to think about but honestly felt far more practical than always carrying it around.

" _He said that his family had this power but he could grant it to others. I wonder… just what other kind of powers must exist in this world."_

After he got into the car with the others, Ignis started to drive away from Hammerhead, heading northwest. The drive started out quiet at first which gave Cloud plenty of time to look around at the world now that it was day time again.

The land itself seemed to be very large and vast, but nonetheless a pretty sight to look at. But as much as Cloud found himself curious to explore this new land, he knew he had to keep his focus on what laid ahead. Even if his overall goals were still to be discovered, he knew at least there would be fighting, and he could handle that.

The drive was fairly quiet though. None of the guys were speaking and Cloud could see that they all wore serious expressions. Especially Noctis, though there seemed to be a hint of something else. Cloud wasn't much of an expert on stuff like emotions, but he did know what it was like to lose and no doubt Noctis was still thinking about the prior day.

Still Cloud thought again that maybe he could talk to Noctis about it. He knew how it felt, but he also knew how good it was to open up and talk to someone. It had honestly taken him some time to talk things through with Tifa once he finally got over his guilt, but it took the biggest weight off his chest.

" _Hm… I just don't know when it would be best. I still barely know him… but I feel like I should try. It's the right thing to do… probably would be best if I take some time to get to know these guys first before trying to touch into a subject like that."_

Though he thought of trying to say something at least, he remained quiet for the rest of the drive. It wasn't like he was an actively social person anyways, and as far as he could tell it seemed like none of these guys were either. Or maybe it was just due to the situation at hand… only time would tell from this point on.

Eventually they reached the outpost and they all exited the car. As the group walked towards the small shack of a building, Ignis spoke up. "This must be the outpost Cid mentioned."

Gladiolus grumbled deeply. "It looks like a hub for hunters."

"Maybe they know something," Prompto said, trying to sound optimistic about where they were.

To Cloud it just looked like some run down shack in the middle of nowhere. It almost felt like it could be something he would find back in the Slums of Midgar. But whatever they meant by hunters, he wasn't sure if it was meant to be a good or bad thing. " _Just another thing to add to the list of questions…"_

The five of them made it inside where a woman was standing there presumably waiting for them. As soon as she saw Noctis she knelt down and lowered her head. "Your Highness. I'm glad you're safe."

"Monica," Gladiolus said. "Where're all the others?"

"Most of the Crownsguard didn't make it. It was all we could do to escort Lady Iris out of the city. Dustin is with her as we speak, seeing her the rest of the way to Lestallum."

"I owe you guys big time," Gladiolus replied.

Monica nodded. "Head for the royal tomb. The marshal awaits"

Once Monica pointed them in the direction they needed to head to, Noctis took the lead and started walking ahead of the group. The remaining four started into a quick walking speed in hopes to try and keep up, but Noctis kept moving faster.

"Someone seems eagar," Cloud murmured softly.

"We can't keep up with this guy," Gladiolus said after a bit, though CLoud wasn't sure if it was directed at Noctis or not since they were just about caught up with him.

"First the Crown City, then Hammerhead, then the royal tomb?" Prompto asked.

"His nickname should have been 'Cor the Restless'," Ignis replied.

"Somehow not as catchy as 'Cor the Immortal'," Gladiolus added.

"So who exactly is Cor?" Cloud asked, feeling it was the right time to at least ask something as easy as that.

"To put it simply," Ignis started to say. "He is the Marshal of the Crownsguard, which makes him a protector of the Citadel, Insomnia and in turn the royal family. He earned his nickname through surviving countless battles years prior."

"And now that he has made it out of Insomnia, it is only going to add to his legend."

Cloud found himself chuckling slightly. "If surviving countless battles makes you that in this world then I would be quite the legend."

"Huh? Seriously?" Prompto asked as he ran to be side by side with Cloud.

Cloud couldn't help but smile. The refreshing feeling of telling people who had never heard his story before came back to him. "Not only have I been through a lot of battles, but I've been impaled by a sword…" Cloud waited a moment before he added the final bit for emphasis. "Twice."

"Holy shit, no way!" Prompto exclaimed.

Noctis now slowed down in his running a small bit to be more in pace with Cloud. From the look on his face, Cloud could tell he seemed skeptical. "Were they really that severe?"

Cloud nodded. He could feel the slight chill over remembering the events, but they were all in the past now and they no longer haunted him. The only thing it did was leave him always wondering just how lucky he really was to have survived those attacks from Sephiroth . "Once nearly straight through the abdomen, the other was in the upper chest near my shoulder. Should have died, but I guess I just got lucky."

"I would say that it is the wise that make their luck," Ignis said. "There is probably much more to those stories than just that I assume."

"Yeah," Cloud nodded. "But I'll save it for later."

"Oh I definitely wanna hear those stories!" Prompto exclaimed. "You really must be famous back in your world."

Cloud just shrugged, not one to react to flattery too much. "I guess so."

They walked further, eventually heading up a narrow pathway that most likely was leading to the tomb they needed to go to. Along the way though flying beasts started to dive down to try and attack them. Though it seemed unexpected at first the five men prepared themselves and took down the beasts just as quickly as they arrived.

While they fought, Cloud still kept an eye out how each of them fought. They all had their own styles and methods as well as weapons to handle the monsters. Still how Cloud saw it, in the end fighting was all the same no matter the style or weapon. But he was finding himself more interested to learn about the abilities he saw Noctis use. It was mainly that one where he seemed to teleport from one spot to another within a blue glow. Once again Cloud just made another mental note to ask all of these things later.

Now that the flying monsters were dealt with they made their way up to the rest of the path that led to a small looking building. "We're here," Ignis stated as they proceeded further.

"A tomb fit for royalty," Prompto said.

Gladiolus nodded. "Let's go in and find the marshal."

Cloud slowed down slightly behind the group. He still didn't know a lot about this Cor guy, and he was still fairly new to all of this. No doubt once Cor saw him he would either ask questions or something else among those lines. So Cloud thought he would try to hang back as best as he could to try not to cause too much distraction from whatever the task at hand was going to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say a bit thank you for all of you who have read this story. I got stuck on it for a while but I am finally trying to get back to it.   
> I think it is I had gotten stuck not sure how to handle going through a lot of this as I am more familiar with FF7 than FF15 for the lore stuff. So if you got any tips let me know!


	11. Chapter 11

The boys entered into the tomb, heading to where Cor was. It only took a bit of walking until they entered the actual tomb area. There in the tomb room was the man known as Cor, though Cloud couldn't get a good look at him right away since his back was to the group.

"Marshal," Ignis greeted, warranting the man to turn around.

"At last, Your Highness," Cor said as he turned around. Though right away his eyes landed on Cloud. No doubt he was immediately suspicious of the man as the group filled in around the tomb.

Noctis cleared his throat and pointed to Cloud. "This is Cloud, he's kind of here to join us or something."

Cor did not seem impressed by the explanation. "Cloud?" Slowly he walked closer to him, still not taking away his serious gaze.

Cloud was not phased though. Not only did he have a feeling that this would inevitably happen, but he had dealt with plenty of confrontations before. He had no reason to be nervous. He wasn't spying on the group or trying to deceive them. He was just… there… for most likely being there to join them on whatever this journey was.

"Last name?" Cor asked suddenly.

"Strife."

There was a soft snort from Gladiolus. "Cloud Strife? What kind of name is that?"

He was quickly hushed by Ignis while Cor continued to not let up his on heavy suspicion. "I'm going to have to ask you to show me some form of identification."

"I have one, but it may make things harder than you would think," Cloud replied as he dug into his pocket. Even if it was going to raise more questions, he knew that he had to at least not make this guy upset by refusing to show his ID.

Cor crossed his arms. "And that reason is?" Quickly, he turned to look at the other boys. "Do you mean to tell me that you are letting a complete stranger follow you all around?"

"That isn't it marshal," Ignis replied. "Cloud's circumstances as to why he is with us… are rather unique. But we have our trust with him."

Cor's eyes then shifted to Noctis. "And this is true?"

Noctis nodded. "The guy did kind of fall out of the sky from nowhere while I was fishing. We kind of believe that maybe the Astrals have something to do with it."

Cor didn't even bat an eye. His seriousness and toughness almost reminded Cloud of Barret, but in a much more strict and only serious mode. "He fell… from the sky… with no warning whatsoever?"

All of the men nodded. Then Prompto was the next to speak. "But like he could be from a different dimension or something. We found out that there are some similaires, but like still a lot of different things."

"Hmph," Cor grumbled. None of this seemed to impress him or sway him to believe any of it.

Either way Cloud held out his ID. "Maybe this will help prove I am not from this world."

Cor took the ID card from Cloud and began to read it out. "Cloud Strife… Born August 11th, 1986. In…" Cor's eyes narrowed quickly, but after a moment they lighted up. "Nibelheim… Nibel Area, Gaia."

"Whoa, 1986? Are we sure Cloud's not from the future?" Prompto asked.

Ignis pushed up his glasses. "Cloud's world may operate on a different calendar system than we do. After all, the calendar system we use was only established 755 years ago."

"I would have thought that if it weren't for this," Cor held out the ID for the others to see. "There was one part of this that just seems too weird to be anything from here."

All four guys leaned in to look, trying to see just what it was that threw Cor off. It was something simple though, right by Cloud's birthday was a strange slew of odd looking words that followed before the 1986; [ μ ] - εγλ."

"How in the world do you pronounce that?" Gladiolus asked.

"[ μ ] - εγλ?" Cloud asked casually. "Well uh… like that?" I don't really know how to explain how to say it, it's just a part of what everyone grew up learning."

All the men were staring at Cloud now. It at first seemed odd why they would be giving him those looks, but the longer he thought about it he realized how weird it probably was. It was from old world languages that just stuck to use for the calendar after all. But he figured those old language words really did sound weird to people who never heard them. It was kind of like slang that only came from your regional area, head to another place and use thar slang and you definitely will get looks.

Cor grumbled again as he looked back down at the ID. a moment later he handed it back to Cloud. "It could just be a forgery, there's still something that seems off about you. But…" he trailed off. "Maybe that's because you really are from some other dimension. It doesn't mean I completely buy it yet."

"Then what can we do to convince you? But I doubt we really have time for this," Noctis grumbled. "You needed me here for a reason, right? Isn't that a little more important?"

Cor sighed as he folded his arms. "Fine. I do not trust him yet, but because we have more important matters at hand, I'll leave it be for now."

Cloud didn't say anything as he watched Cor walk back to the tomb, holding his hand over it. "The power of the kings, passed from the old to the new through the bonding of souls. One such soul lies before you. To claim your forebear's power is your birthright and duty as king.

"My duty as king of what?" Noctis muttered bitterly under his breath.

"Now is not the time to question your calling," Cor replied. "A king is sworn to protect his people."

"And yet he chose to protect only one prince. Was that his calling? Forsake the masses to spare his own?"

The conversation went on between the two for a little bit longer. Once again Cloud found himself feeling like he was stepping into something much more private, yet none of the other guys seemed to move out of the room. Cloud had thought about it, but at the time it just felt like it would be much more rude to step back. So he kept on listening to Noctis grow more and more frustrated over the matters that had happened before Cloud even had arrived.

It was still fairly confusing, but he could understand Noctis's frustration at his father based on what he was hearing. " _The poor guy… it seems like a lot of weight on his shoulders now…"_

It was hard for Cloud to truly get a proper level of sympathy though. He was still feeling sorry for Noctis, but he knew that he could never understand it. Cloud had never known his father, he had left sometime after Cloud was born. He had no way to understand it, but the closest way he could think about it was his mother. It may not have been the exact same, but he still had at least one parent who had always looked out for him.

" _Maybe I really should try to talk to him sometime after this. Let him know I understand losing family… I still gotta try at least,"_ Cloud reminded himself. " _Whenever the time is right that is…"_

"Guess he left me no choice…" Noctis said once it seemed Cor's words had finally gotten through to him.

He raised his hand over the tomb and Cloud watched as the sword that was placed on top glowed and floated upwords. The light shining from it became too bright and he quickly shielded his eyes until the light faded and the sword now floated up higher into the room. It tilted towards Noctis and in a flash looked as if it were to impale him but instead seemed to join him briefly before floating around him slowly.

This was unlike any power that Cloud had seen before. He knew it was probably something complicated having to do with what he had heard before. Ignis had said something about the Lucian royal family and the power they held. Most likely it had to be something like that, but it was just something more to learn about.

"The power of kings goes with you, Your Majesty," Cor replied.

Noctis nodded and the sword faded away from sight. After that the men filed out as Cor spoke of more royal tombs that had a royal arm for Noctis to collect. As they headed out, Noctis took the lead, while Cloud tried to hang back time being. But as he stayed back Cor also fell back to walk next to him. It was clear he was going to go right back to hounding Cloud or at least keeping an eye on him.

"Strife," Cor addressed him. "If you have been with Noctis and his friends, I assume you have some level of combat training?"

It was not the question Cloud expected to be asked. He thought for sure that Cor was going to ask more about his origins. But this wasn't too bad to be asked at least. "I do. I was an infantryman back in my own world years ago."

Cor hummed. "Well I guess I will just have to see what you got."

Up ahead Cloud saw that more monsters had appeared. The four others were already summoning their weapons and running out to attacks. Not missing a beat Cloud ran up to the group and summoned his sword and helped take out the vicious beasts that had shown up. Cloud even saw Cor joined in the fight, showing off that he had quiet the years of experience in how he fought.

After the monsters were cleared out they started to press on again, but it seemed Cor was still not done with his questioning. This time he walked closer to Noctis, clearing his throat as he walked alongside him. "So you bestored him the ability to store his weapon."

"Yeah?" Noctis asked almost a little defensively. "We told you before that we trust Cloud. So why should it matter?"

"It is just interesting that you would put your trust into someone you barely know, especially if he claims to be from another world," Cor replied.

"He fell _out of the freaking sky_ right in front of me!" Noctis exclaimed. "There wasn't a lot of time to just sit and have a nice chat."

Cloud walked a little faster to catch up to the two of them. "There was the fact I was immediately plunged into water. That made our first meeting more… well unconventional. You would have to have been there."

Cor raised an eyebrow, seeming like he could have been surprised. If he was actually surprised by the story, he clearly didn't show any of it externally. "Well I've already heard that much on how you showed up. Now what about how you got here."

"That's… I'm still trying to figure that part out. Putting it simply, I was by some water that started glowing and I fell into it and ended up here."

"You… fell into it?" Cor asked.

Cloud shrugged. "I said I was putting it simply."

"But we still don't know if the Astrals had anything to do with it or not," Noctis added. "We're just taking guesses."

"You know…" Cloud started. "After seeing you fight, there may be a connection."

"What is it?" Noctis asked as the group continued on their way through the land. The entire group seemed to be intently listening in to what Cloud had to say.

"That thing that you do in battle, where you teleport from one area to the next. It has a blue aura around it."

"My warp strike? What about it?"

"The blue color it creates… the water turned a similar color before I had fallen into it. Like it actually glowed."

"Noct's ability… it comes from power of the kings of Lucis," Ignis answered.

"That power that comes from the crystal…" Cor added on. "The legends say that the Astrals bestowed the Crystal to mankind. If that is truly what you saw, then maybe you were brought here for good reason."

"So you're going to trust Cloud now, uh sir?" Prompto asked.

"Not entirely **.** Not yet, but I do trust him a little more at least," Cor answered. "We'll see the further we go along here. Perhaps as we head to the tomb, Strife here can indulge us more on his world or more specifically anything he has done. If he was brought here to help, there must be more to his skills."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too familiar writing for Cor, but hopefully I got the hang of him. Let me know if you guys have any suggestions if there are ways I can improve though!
> 
> Anyways thank you all so far for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

The party made their way through the area, defeating whatever creatures tried to show up along the way. It wasn't long before they came to an open area that ended up having some of the MTs show up. As it had been like before, the group broke out to attack as quickly as they could.

Cloud went to fight off one of the soldiers when he could catch the others fighting in the corner of his eye. The four guys minus Cor were rather coordinated with each other. There had not been a lot of time to notice it before, but Cloud could clearly see it now. The way they fought, they still each had their own methods with each weapon class they had, but they still worked as a team.

That wasn't to say that he wasn't used to teamwork. He had done it plenty of times before, but there was just something about how these four interacted that made Cloud curious. It just was small subtle things, like passing a weapon from one another or working together to prepare an attack from both sides. With the added bit of the occasional playful banter when Cloud was close enough to hear it.

" _I guess I got a lot to learn, or relearn in my case"_ Cloud thought to himself. It had been quite a few months, nearly a year, since Cloud had dealt with the Remnants and the return of Sephiroth. Since then life had gotten back to being fairly peaceful so there was no need to go out and fight everyday. But he did it still with his friends to practice in case the need ever did come up. But he had to admit he was still rusty on the whole teamwork aspect, but he was still ready to try again.

"You fight well," Cor commented as he came up on Cloud's left.

"Thanks."

"So just how many years was it that you were an infantryman as you said?"

Cor had said that he wanted to see if Cloud would say more about himself and his world, and it looked like now was the time that he was trying to do it. Cloud had no reason to oppose it though, unless he wanted to seem suspicious on the subject. It only brought a little pain along in his chest, but he knew he could get through it now. He was past his phase of guilt and regret, there was still mourning, but that was to be expected. But still at the same time the whole ordeal of his past was complicated to explain. He knew he was going to have to take it one step at a time as easily as he could.

"I left home at fourteen and joined at fifteen eight years ago. The Infantryman division was where everyone started at first, but you could make your way up the ranks. The top rank being 1st Class SOLDIER."

"You mean _a_ 1st class soldier?" Gladio asked.

Cloud shook his head. "No. The name of SOLDIER was the division of men who were infused with the mako energy." In the corner of his eye he could see that Cor was looking at him strange. "It's basically just energy that comes from my planet. But only the SOLDIER rank could get these enhancements. I never actually made it to any of the ranks of SOLDIER, but I did get the enhancements… through less conventional ways."

He had only mentioned before that it was a long story, but now he was getting looks from all of the men. Cloud couldn't help but exhale slowly. It was a lot to explain, but also a lot to talk about in general and he just wasn't the most talkative person. He just hoped he wouldn't have to constantly talk the entire way to the next area.

"Sounds like you've been through quite a lot in those eight years," Cor said with a tone that Cloud could have guessed was sympathetic.

"You wouldn't know the half of it," Cloud scoffed.

"Well you still have time to explain it," Cor replied. "But I can tell it would probably be better for a later time."

Pressing on they soon came to the Keycatrich Trench entrance which was leading into a dark cave or dungeon like area. Right away Cloud could see the guys clicking on little lights to their clothes that really helped illuminate the area before them.

Cor cleared this throat as he walked over to Noctis. "Here's where we go our separate ways. Take this key It unlocks the doors to the other tombs. Seek them out, and lay claim to the power they hold. You'll need it."

"And What will you do?" Noctis asked.

"Keep an eye on the Niffs. Find out what they're up to. But you should focus on your own task," Cor replied.

"And Cloud?" Noctis then asked. "Do you trust him now or what?"

"More than before," Cor said as he looked over to the blond. "Strife, you are a good fighter and a good mindset for determination. I can only hope that you are indeed on our side and will continue to help out his Highness here and his friends."

Cloud nodded. "I'll do what I can."

"Good. I'll be off then," Cor said before turning to look at Noctis one last time. "Good luck."

"Thanks. You take care."

After Cor left the group started to make their way into the cave. It was slowly getting darker, but the lights that the group wore did help majorly. Though it wasn't like Cloud truly needed extra light to see anyways.

"Hey are you going to be alright with seeing and stuff?" Prompto asked.

Speaking of which…

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Mako enhancements increase the senses, so I'll be fine."

"Whoa, so it's like you got night vision and stuff? Or is it just cause your eyes kind of glow like that?"

"Uh, I'm going to go with night vision."

"Sweet. I mean you said it was unconventional which you know is not sweet. But like… it's helpful right?"

Cloud found himself to be chuckling lightly at the other blond. There was an energy to him that felt nice. He wasn't trying to be rude in the slightest, just a genuinely curious person. "Yeah something like that."

"Then we won't have to worry about buying a light for you," Ignis said.

"I guess so," Cloud hummed.

The further they went they came across a structure the Ignis believed to be a shelter of some sorts. There wasn't all too much at first though so they kept moving forward. Though even if it was abandoned there did seem to be some things that were left over. But the further they walked, the more structures started to show. Areas were run down and rather unsafe to move through, making it very slow to traverse through.

Eventually they did find a generator that lit up most of the areas but it was still left pretty dark in general. They all seemed to be fine at least as they made their way through, expect for Prompto who seemed the most on edge.

"You going to be okay?" Cloud asked after they rounded another corner.

"Oh yeah. Totally fine," Prompto replied with the hint of nervousness in his voice. "We're just all down here in a spooky tunnel where something totally couldn't just pop out from behind like _BAM_ and it gets us."

Suddenly Cloud had the sense that one of the other guys was coming up behind him. Pormpto yelped quickly and he saw that Gladiolus had given him a slight shove. "Quit being a wuss."

"I am not!" Prompto pouted. "I'm just thinking of the possible scenarios! Like you see in the movies!"

"Well this isn't a movie so can it," the taller man grumbled.

Cloud started to chuckle, drawing the attention of the other two. "Haven't you heard of life imitates art, art imitates life? Who's to say that won't _happen_?"

"Yeah see? Cloud's on my side that this could all really be terrifying!"

"I never said it was terrifying, just that it could happen."

"Still! It's freaking to think about!" Prompto shouted before Gladiolus gave him another light shove.

"Why don't you take pictures then?" Noctis asked, trying his best not to laugh. "To document our demise."

"You know! That's a great idea!" Prompto pulled out his camera and started to adjust the settings on it before trying to snap some shots.

After a while they came to a different area that looked to be a dead end at first but suddenly the generated lights gave out and for a moment everything was in darkness. Quickly though Cloud could see the guys fumbling to turn on their lights, but what he was more focused on was the other presence that seemed to be in the area. Many small presences from what he could tell.

When the lights were on a group of menacing looking goblins had appeared and had surrounded the group. "Well…" Cloud said as he readied his weapon. "Looks like you were right. They did pop out to get us."

It looked like Prompto wanted to say something, but Gladiolus spoke first, as he knocked back one of the nearby Goblins. "Less talking, more fighting."

Fighting within a narrow cave was not preferable. The walls were still not sound and parts of them would crumble during the fight. But it was all that they could with what they had been given.

"Heads up!"

Cloud tried to turn to see what was happening, when suddenly he was pulled back by Ignis. The floor before him burst into flames along with the Goblins that were there too. "What was that?"

"A basic level fire spell," Ignis replied. "Best to stay out of the way."

" _Guess the magic here works differently. At least there is some form of magic,"_ Cloud thought before going to slice through one of the burning Goblins. " _Wouldn't hurt to ask about it later."_

When the Goblins were defeated they moved on through the dungeon, now all of them fully aware of what could pop up at any time. There were hallways with big metal doors, but as far as they could tell most seemed to be locked. There was one at least that was open, and aside from more Goblins and now some rather creepily large spiders, there was another generator to light the way again. When they did have to fight it was still fairly cramped, but somehow they were all able to manage.

Thankfully by the time they got to the tomb, there had not been all too much else. Noctis retrieved the sword in the same manner as before and then the group started to make their way out.

"So, Noct borrows the old kings' powers?" Prompto asked once the light faded.

"More or less. At this rate, he'll soon rival his father's legacy." Ignis replied, as all of them started headed out of the tomb.

"The Copycat king" Gladiolus snorted.

Noctis grumbled, not even looking back at the taller man. "Out of line."

Prompto moved forward clearing his throat quickly. "Well? What's it like?"

"Hmm… Like I've got some tricks up my sleeve," Noctis replied.

"No need to put on a magic show for us," Gladiolus said.

"But it never hurt to practice," Ignis added.

"I agree," Cloud cut in. "Besides if I am sticking around for a while, I wanna see these new tricks you got."

Noctis gave him a nod. "Yeah once we get a chance to just sit down again, I think it would be good anyways. A chance to see just what kind of skills you have."

Ignis came up between the two of them, giving his own nod of agreement. "Well once we are able to get back we can look for a place to rest. We have been traveling all day after all."

Noctis hummed just as they were exciting the tomb. Cool air rushed over all of them and now that they were back outside Cloud could see that it was later into the night than he originally thought. Finally able to breath fresh air again Cloud walked forward to obverse the area. It was quite now with nothing in sight.

Tilting his head up he stared at the stars. They were just as vast and infinite as the stars back home. Different constellations of course, but there was still some sense of familiarity. He let out a long breath as he got lost in the thoughts of what was to come, and if he would ever get home. He wasn't trying to actively think about it, but it still was a lingering thought in the back of his mind. Only time would tell though, but he wasn't sure just how long that time would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah man, I finally got a new chapter up for this. I think playing FFXV really helped motive me a good bit. Either way thank you all as always for reading! I still got a lot of work to put into this with how I want Cloud to interact, but I am trying my best!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We return now with chapter 13! Playing FFXV really has been helping motivate me (but I also kept getting caught up in writing FFXV stories now lol) 
> 
> Either way THANK YOU all for over 200 kudos. I'm just so happy this story really is doing well.

The five of them hurried back to the base they had started from, thankfully this time with no interruptions of monsters or other creatures on the way. While they were back, Noctis had gone and talked to Monica to get what information he needed next. On the way back from the tomb, Noctis had received a call from Cor with him saying something about going after a base to take down. Cloud could only assume that they would be dealing with that sooner or later.

As Cloud waited around, he saw that Prompto was wandering around, holding his camera. Eventually he turned to face Cloud and walked over to him. "Hey Cloud, gotta say you standing there all serious with the stars in the background makes for a great shot. Can I grab a quick pic?"

Cloud shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Great! Just hold that pose a moment longer… and there we go!" Prompto stood back up and smiled. "It looks great! Can't wait to show it off to the others."

"How many photos do you take?" Cloud decided to ask.

"Like overall? Or just each day? Cause I try to keep a limit on it, like ten to fifteen per day or so. Otherwise I'd probably have like a hundred or more and that's just too much. I can only save so much to the camera y'know?"

"I think I get it. You've always liked that sort of thing?"

Prompto rubbed the back of his neck as he smiled, most likely reflecting upon a good memory. "Yup, though when I was younger I was more focused on just taking pictures of cats and dogs and other animals. Took me a bit to get more confident before I started taking pictures of people and other things."

Cloud nodded. "I see. Good to hear."

"So do you have any favorite hobbies?" Prompto asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, like how I like photography and stuff. Course I know people can have more than one hobby. But like, what's one of your favorites then?"

"I… I've never really thought about it before," Cloud replied. "Does working on my motorcycle count?"

"Motorcycle enthusiast totally counts!" Prompto replied. "Seriously you gotta tell me more about it. I am more of a tech guy, but motorcycles can _technically_ count, right?"

Cloud tried his hardest to refrain from smiling at the bad pun, but a little bit started to show through. But before he could give any answer, the other three walked over to him. The conversation on the motorcycle was going to have to be put on hold. "So what's the plan?"

"Monica gave me the directions to the base, at least some secret way of sneaking it. It's just a little ways from here," Noctis answered.

"While we are close to the base, after today's long ordeal we should rest up while we can," Ignis added. "Cor will be at the base by morning from what I heard. But now that just leaves where shall sleep."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Isn't there a caravan right over there?"

"Yes there is, but there is also a haven nearby, and I am trying to decide what would be less cramped for the five of us," Ignis replied. "And while I know you are wondering, a haven is a small area of land that is embedded with magic that wards off the daemons."

"Yeah, we usually camp out at one if we aren't close enough to a motel or anything," Prompto added. "Or when we don't have enough money."

"Still either way it would be cramped like the caravan," Gladio interjected. "The four of us can fit fine, but I'm not too sure how well it would work with one extra, even if you are on the smaller side. Might be room, but can't really tell right now."

Cloud withheld his thoughts to retort Gladio's comment. Instead he tried to think of something else to say on the subject. "So it's just like camping out in the open?"

"Yes, but we do have our tent," Ignis replied.

Cloud just gave the group a shrug. "If we're camping outdoors I don't mind sleeping on the ground outside. Wouldn't be the first time at least."

"Are you sure? You wouldn't be cold or anything?" Prompto asked, looking a little concerned.

"I've slept in worse conditions, I'll be fine."

"Can't we just like… buy another tent or something?" Noctis suggested. "They can't be that expensive. Or maybe like we can actually see if all five of all can fit."

Ignis sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "They cost a bit more than you would think, but if need be, we can put aside some gil just to be on the safe side."

"It's really not necessary," Cloud started to say, but Ignis seemed to have more.

"And what if it rains?" Noctis continued on. "You just going to let yourself get soaked?"

"Noct," Ignis interjected as he placed a hand on the guy's shoulder. "You cannot force him against his will. Besides we still have only begun to know Cloud, crowding up in the tent for a night is a bit different than the caravan,"

Cloud could understand what Ignis was trying to get at. He barely knew the guys and it would be a bit awkward to be sharing a tent with them. But then on the other hand Cloud had spent those years as an Infantryman sleeping in tents with others when out on missions. Usually each man would have his own tent, but there had been times when he had to group up with others. Even on his journey to stop Sephiroth with the AVALANCHE team, there were times where they had to camp out in the wilderness using the small tents they were able to buy.

Either way it wasn't something he was unfamiliar with, but he wasn't one who was willing to just jump into something like that. He was still overall a private guy who liked his personal space. It was going to take him some time before he felt like he would be comfortable with it, but until then he was just going to deal with it how he could.

"I'll be fine by myself for now," Cloud finally said. "You guys at least have extra sleeping bags or pillows I could use, right?"

"Yes we do in fact. So if that is that case, I assume we are settling on heading to the haven? There is one just south of the outpost, close enough we won't run into any daemons."

"Sounds like a plan," Gladio said.

"And that means Iggy's cooking for tonight!" Prompto cheered as he pumped a fist into the air. "Aw man Cloud, just wait till you try Iggy's cooking, it's like his second calling or something. It's totally out of this world!"

"If you want to get technical, Cloud's from out of this world… literally," Noctis replied snarkily.

"Dude! Don't go stealing my bad jokes! It's my job to make all the bad jokes and puns!" Prompto exclaimed.

"And yet we'd be happier if you stopped making those puns," Gladio said as he gave Prompto a shove.

The five of them walked south from the outpost, and true to Ignis's word, there was a haven just nearby. Just as they approached, Cloud could practically feel the magical energy that came off of it, with the strange runes that glowed blue and the small blue fire pit.

"I'll get the fire started," Noctis said as he approached the pit.

"And I'll get the tent set up," Prompto replied.

Cloud only could stand there as he watched the four set up around the campfire that was now lit. Soon there were chairs around the fire and a mini grill and other cooking equipment off to the side. Behind him was a tent and it was a bit larger than he had expected, but he could tell that four people could be fine, five would probably be a bit more questionable.

Soon enough Ignis walked over to him and held out a journal. "Since you're our guest, I thought you could be the one to decide what we'll eat. I know the food most likely is foreign, but hopefully there is something to your liking."

Cloud nodded as he started to look through the journal. Some of them had circles next to them, giving Cloud the thought that those were the ones that were available. There were a lot of foods that really were unfamiliar, but they were intriguing. After a bit of reading, he finally came to his decision. "Prairie-Style Skewers I guess?"

"A good choice," Ignis replied. "Relax and sit back, I'll handle all the rest."

Doing as he was told he went down to sit by the fire, right near were Noctis and Prompto were. Right away Prompto looked at him and gave a friendly smile. "So Cloud, you play any video games back in your world?"

"Video games?"

"What!? Don't tell me that they don't have video games there!"

"Man that must suck," Noctis added.

Cloud tried to think. He figured that a video game was some game that most likely was done through some technological means.

But he wasn't exactly sure what kind of games they were talking about. Sure there were some at the Golden Saucer, but other than that, he hadn't really done much else. It was probably as close as he was going to get though.

"We have some stuff. Some vehicle simulation games and stuff. I don't really remember though, it was at an amusement park that I went to over two years ago. And… I mean I guess the training simulations could count."

"Training simulations?" Gladio asked as he sat down in one of the chairs next to the group.

"Training for…" he was about to say SOLDIERs, but then he knew that would open the floodgates to even more questions. He hadn't actually used the simulations when he was working for Shinra, only during his time taking it down did he have a chance to use it. So instead he went with phrasing it a little differently. "When we weren't out in the field. We'd put on a headset and a simulation would be set up around us."

"Oh! So VR," Prompto stated. "So at least your world isn't completely boring. But like, you don't even have phone games? Wait, do you even have phones?!"

Cloud started to laugh. "Why wouldn't we have phones?" From his pocket he pulled out his flip phone to show to the guys. What he didn't expect was for Prompto and Noctis to start laughing near hysterically.

"What in the world is that?" Prompto laughed.

"Looks like some old relic," Noctis snorted. "Like something my dad would use when he was my age."

Even Gladio let out a chuckle. "I didn't take you for the old man type when it came to a phone."

Cloud hardly expressed any amusement at their jokes. "What do you guys have then?"

"Only the latest coolest smartphones from Insomnia; Crownsguard addition," Prompto said as he held up his smartphone. "It's got all the latest features and the coolest games downloaded, like King's Knight."

"I bet that thing can't even get games," Gladio laughed. "Let alone reception."

"Hey wait, who says it couldn't?" Prompto suddenly asked. "What if it actually could through some magic Astrals involved way?"

"Only one way to try," Cloud said as he flipped it open, causing the screen to light up. If he could actually connect to some cell towers… would he be able to make calls? And if he could do that… would he be able to call home? To be able to call Tifa and the others to let them know he was okay? It was a hope, but honestly he wasn't too sure.

He opened up the contacts list as the three boys crowded around him to watch. He scrolled down until he reached Tifa's number and hit the send button to start the call. Pressed the phone to his ear he held his breath, waiting for the ringing sound. But there never ended up being any sound at all.

Sighing, he clicked end and flipped it closed. "Guess it doesn't work."

"Well what about calling one of us? Like maybe calling your world doesn't work but here it might? Can I see for a moment?" Prompto asked as he held out his hand.

Reluctantly Cloud handed over his phone and Prompto started to dial up a number on it. Once he hit send he waited just as Cloud had before, and just like before he ended the call after a few of waiting. He handed back Cloud his phone. "Guess you're stuck without phone use."

"Or we could buy one," Noctis suggested.

"Noct," Ignis said as he walked over carrying two plates which he handed to Gladio and Prompto first. "Just like a tent, phones are not cheap and we wouldn't be able to get him an Insomnia made one either."

"But wouldn't it be smart for him to have one? You know in case we ever got separated or something?" Noctis asked.

"Yes, you are correct," Ignis replied as he handed out the other two plates to Noctis and then Cloud. He headed back to grab his own plate before he continued. "But currently now is not the time to worry about it. I will write it down though so when we have enough funds and the time, we can get Cloud a proper cell phone."

"You really don't have to do all this for me, it's not needed," Cloud said as he looked over the food Ignis had made. It really did smell good, he knew that much, so he could only guess it tasted just as nice.

"But Noct makes a fair point. While it is unlikely, it would be wise that you have one in case you were separated."

"Plus if you are stuck here a while, better to have it sooner than later, right?" Prompto added on before going back to eating his skewered food.

Cloud frowned ever so slightly. While he didn't mind helping out the guys, he did wonder about going home. Ever since he got here it was always in the back of his mind. But he couldn't let it be his focus… helping Noctis and his friends had to be the focus. Wondering about home could come at a later time.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't say you'd need to do it all now."

"We will do it when it is most opportune," Ignis answered. "Now I feel you may have some other questions on your mind. Since we have the time now, we could answer them if you like, but only if you let us ask things in return. It's only fair that way."

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, I understand. I'm just not used to having to answer so much."

"Take your time then," Noctis said as he shrugged slightly. "Wouldn't want to burn up all the stories right away anyways."

"True…" Cloud mumbled as he stared up at the night sky. "Well… where to begin…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now next time we get into more of that discussion of course. But hope you all enjoyed the development I am working on.
> 
> See you next time!


	14. Chapter 14

Cloud stared down at his food as he began to think. He thought at first going to take a few bites, but he still did promise that he would tell the guys some part of his story. He had to say something before the silence began too long and awkward.

"I guess the best place to start would be my world itself… Gaia. The planet has this energy in it… something that we call the Lifestream. It's pretty much what it sounds like. It's what gives life to everything."

"So like some spiritual thing?" Prompto asked. "Like is it alive if it's giving life to the entire planet?"

"I think so… I think it acts as that but also an afterlife. Depending who you ask really, everyone has a different opinion on it."

"Well all we have to go by is you," Noctis replied.

Cloud chuckled. "I guess I'm not the best person to reference then. But things can't always be peaceful. A company called Shinra tried to harness and use the Lifestream for their own means. Using it as an energy source. That's where the mako stuff comes in. But that would be another story though, it's a much longer one. But Shinra is no longer standing."

"And I am guessing one of your many battles had to do with Shirna?" Gladio asked gruffly.

Cloud nodded his head. "Yeah. With the help of my friends we managed to do it. But Shinra was not the biggest threat."

"Something bigger than a cooperation that was destroying the life source of an entire planet?" Ignis raised an eyebrow, waiting for Cloud to continue.

"Hmm yeah," Cloud answered. "But it still is connected to Shinra. There was this calamity that fell ages ago from the sky; Jenova. When I talked about SOLDIER before, I said they had mako energy, but it was more than that."

Cloud shuddered slightly as he tried his best to explain the information. Even if it had been some time since these events had happened, it didn't mean he was left without scars, both physical and mental. There were still a couple nights here and there where he would be haunted again by the past, not to the point where he felt guilty, but just enough to leave him uneasy.

"The SOLDIERs," Cloud finally continued. "They also had cells of Jenova injected in them besides the mako. One man had the most experimenting done to him, though no one knew it until long after the fact. But he nearly destroyed the planet twice. His name was Sephiroth."

"And you were the one to stop him?" Prompto asked as his eyes widened before Cloud gave a nod. "Holy shit. Like wow! I couldn't even imagine doing something like that."

"Yeah," Noctis agreed. "I'm going to assume Sephiroth was pretty tough to beat though?"

"When I said I was impaled twice… Sephiroth was the cause of it," Cloud muttered rather quickly, trying not to linger on the bad memories for too long. Even if he tried to not think about it too deeply, he still found himself scratching at his shoulder, where the more recent scar was.

"Wow, I guess you really have been through a lot more than any of us combined even though you're like the same age as us," Prompto commented.

"Yes," Igins agreed. "Though I still have to wonder, you stated before that you were not a part of SOLDIER yet you did achieve the enchantments later on. While it may just be my assumption, this Sephiroth that you speak of I assume was no easy feat, so would these enhancements that you got connect with having to defeat him?"

"Not exactly?" Cloud said, not entirely sure how to answer it. "I mean having the enhanced abilities did help when fighting him, but it was something else for the how."

"We could leave that story for another time, I think you've given enough for tonight," Gladio suggested.

"Yeah, now it can be our turn to talk about stuff!" Prompto exclaimed. "Is there anything you want to know? Cause honestly I have no idea where or what we would even start talking about."

"Maybe. I guess I was wondering about the magic that was used earlier," Cloud said before he resumed eating. Thankfully it was still warm and tasted just fine.

"Ah yes, magic, I think I could take this one," Ignis said as he adjusted his glasses. "While we do not fully understand the full powers magic can hold, in past years we have been able to store it into magic flasks. It's much more contained and refined and then anyone can use it."

"You mean to say it wouldn't be able to be used naturally?"

"Not unless you are one of royal blood," Ignis answered.

"Ah…" Cloud said as he remembered the other day how Noctis was a prince. It was a small thought in the back of his mind that the prince of a kingdom was traveling the world to stop an empire, but he knew he wasn't one to judge. Everyone always had something after all, Yuffie was technically a princess _and_ a sneaky little ninja.

"Yeah, and there are these element rocks? Veins? They're usually around havens like this," Noctis added in. "I can draw the magic from there and then store it into a flask for the guys to use. So if you want to try using magic sometime, just let any of us know."

"Thanks."

"So did your world not have magic or anything?" Prompto asked.

"No we had magic, just different, but in a way I guess it's similar. Mako energy from the Lifestream could be condensed into Materia. You could equip it to your weapon and channel the energy through it to cast a spell," Cloud replied as he ran a hand through his hair. "Though we don't use Materia anymore since it was still taking from the Lifestream."

"Fascinating," Ignis commented. "The parallels and differences between our worlds continue to enlighten me. I do hope that you will want to tell us more along the way."

"Sure, why not."

It really was a good feeling to talk about this. New faces to hear stories that he had though over so many times. While he still wasn't much of a storyteller he could see the appeal of doing it and the reactions of theo there was a good feeling to know that they were interested in listening. Though he had never really thought too much about his adventures being good stories to tell, it just had sort of happened at this point.

After that the guys went back to eating their food, now with Prompto talking cheerfully about the photos from the day, while also complaining how the journey underground was far from pleasant. It still impressed Cloud how well Prompto could get these shots, especially the ones in mid battle.

After a little while, once the food was done and Ignis was cleaning up, Prompto moved over to where Cloud was. "So like... why do you wear a blanket?"

This caught him off guard and now he was starting at Prompto rather confused. "What?"

"Like your outfit! You got this weird blanket cape thing going on."

Cloud was trying to understand what was so weird about his outfit. To him it was just what he wore and nothing was too weird about it. But before he could try and form an answer Noctis came over towards him and Prompto.

"I gotta admit it is pretty strange. Why only on the one side?"

Cloud glanced down to what the guys were dubbing 'a blanket' on his outfit. It was just attached with some belts, but honestly it didn't really have any meaning. He could admit that, but never before did he think it was a blanket.

"It's... just my outfit?" Cloud finally answered.

"Does it even have any functionality or is it just for show?" Gladio chuckled.

"It doesn't. It's just… just a part of my outfit," Cloud answered, not sure how else to say it.

"Oh and the belts, are you scared the blanket will fly away?" Prompto said, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"We would catch it, we can't have the other chocobo boy die of cold at night," Noctis replied slyly.

"Hey!"

Cloud laughed, his own sly smirk crossing his face. "Well if that's the case, don't come to me when the temperature drops and you ask to share my blanket. You should have come prepared."

Noctis and the others started to laugh alongside Cloud, given a good feeling to the night. Though they all knew what tomorrow was going to bring, it still seemed like forever. But now it was time to turn in for the night. They gave Cloud the spare sleeping bag and pillow and he placed them out near the tent.

Cloud stared up at the vast night sky, taking all it's beauty once more. It had honestly been ages since he had camped under stars, far away from any city lights. Even when he had been out and avoiding his friends and family he never took enough time to sit out among the stars to admire them.

His thoughts started to drift back to home though, wondering if Tifa was looking up at the stars. He knew that she would from time to time, wondering just what else could be out there. But he also remembered how she once said she looked up at the stars when she needed to find a moment to relax, seeing the little lights scattered in every direction seemed to bring that calmness to her when she needed it most. So Cloud did just that, hoping he could see what she saw and hoped that it could help him finally relax enough to sleep.

It was only his second night in Eos and now that he had more time to think things through, he still found himself wondering so much. He knew he would have to learn in time, whatever the reason he was here for he knew he would probably discover sooner or later.

* * *

Cloud woke up early the next morning, just as the sun was rising, it was his usual routine after all. He sat up and stretched out his stiff muscles before he actually stood up.

"I see that you are an earlier riser as well."

Cloud turned around to see that Ignis was just walking out of the tent. At the current moment the man was not wearing his glasses but it did not take long for Ignis to pull out the case and place them on his face.

"Oh. Yeah. Never really been a deep sleeper," Cloud replied. He would have said his light sleeping was due to the mako in him, but that part of his story had yet to be told.

"Would you like some Ebony?"

"Ebony?"

"Ah yes forgive me. Ebony is a brand of coffee here. Surely your world must have at least that."

Cloud chucked. "Yeah we have coffee. I'll take a cup."

Ignis nodded before handing a can to Cloud. He read over the side of it, curious what it contained. It seemed to be just like any regular coffee in a can so Cloud opened it up and took a sip for the official taste. It was actually fairly good.

"Thanks," Cloud said in between sips.

"You're welcome. If I can share the great taste that is Ebony, then I am satisfied."

"Right. So will the others be up?"

"Gladio should be awake soon, most likely followed by Prompto. Noct on the other hand… it may take some persuading before he will actually get up. Unfortunately he is far from being a morning person, but perhaps the urgency of our task will help him."

Cloud went back to drinking the Ebony after he nodded. He wasn't too sure what he would say next, but he started waking up more the further he drank. Casual conversation was still hard for him, but he decided to ask probably the most mundane thing anyone could ask when meeting someone new. It would be a start anyway.

"How long have you all known each other?"

"It varies between each of us. I've known Noct since he was four, and knew of Gladio but never properly met him until two years later. Prompto on the other hand was someone Noct befriended in high school."

"Hm that's a while then."

"Well when you are the prince's advisor it's best to be around him for as long as possible."

Cloud raised an eyebrow to that. "You're his advisor?"

"Ah yes, we never properly discussed that yet. Since leaving Insomnia we have been trying to 'stay undercover' as you might say. Though outside the walls people only know the name of the Crown Prince, so it does make it easier to get around without a lot of attention. But since you have joined us, it only makes sense that you should know."

Ignis leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on his knees. "Noct is the Crown Prince of Insomnia, though…" he paused and let out a sigh. "With the passing of his father, that makes him the current king. Gladio is the King's Shield, for his family for generations has protected the current king, and I am his advisor to help guide him through any trouble that may arise."

Cloud took in the information fairly easily. It still was new and strange how different this world was and how the different areas of the world worked, but he was taking it one step at a time still. Soon enough after Ignis finished up his explanation, Gladio and Prompto exited the tent, with Prompto dragging a rather tired looking Noctis at his side.

It didn't take long though for the group to get set up and ready for the day. Before Cloud knew it they were heading out to where they were supposed to go. They headed out towards were the barricade was and met up with Monica within a hidden passage in the rocks.

She explained they would be splitting up, Noctis would go join Cor and the others would work with diversionary efforts. With the plans set, the group split off from Noctis and now Cloud walked quietly alongside the other.

"So you ready to show what you got again?" Gladio asked as he walked up to Cloud.

"Sure thing," Cloud commented.

"You probably think it'll be a piece of cake right? Cause you've done so much before us I kind of feel intimidated," Prompto said while laughing sheepishly.

Gladio grumbled. "Just cause he has won some battles before doesn't mean he's more skilled than us. You've, what, only had about eight years of experience?"

"Something like that."

Cloud decided it was easier to say that rather than saying he was out of commission for five years. By that he really only had about three, maybe almost four years of experience, and somehow he was able to save the world twice because of that. Maybe it was impressive, but the others didn't know that yet. Though now Cloud had begun to wonder just what they would think when he got to that part of his story.

"Well I only trained for six months and I've come a long way!" Prompto proclaimed.

"Yeah but you still aren't anywhere near my level, so keep trying Blondie," Gladio laughed as he shoved Prompto a little.

"Still, progress is progress, regardless of time," Ignis added.

Up ahead were many MTs, all of them guarding the entrance, standing still waiting for anything to come their way. Cloud glanced to his side and saw the guys summon their weapons so he did the same. He breathed in deeply, preparing himself for what would happen next.

"Well the best way I see it," Gladio said as he held up his sword. "The best way to get experience is on the job. So let's get to it!"

The battle against the group of MTs didn't last all too long. Cloud did his best to focus on slashing through the various machines, while also staying clear of the other's attacks. Though as he was taking down on MT, another was coming up quickly on his side. He was ready to move out of the way, but before he could bullets pelted its body, wearing down the armor. Then one final bullet went right through its head and it dropped down to the ground.

Prompto chuckled as he gave a thumbs up to Cloud. "Gotcha covered, Cloud!"

Cloud gave him a nod before resuming his attack towards the next MT. It was still taking time but he was getting used to how this group worked together. The way their teamwork felt so smooth and fluid really was helpful. Though Cloud had yet to properly do any attack moves alongside one of the others like he had seen before, it was still nice to know he had back up when he needed it.

The MTs were wiped out soon enough, their empty metal bodies scattered on the pavement. Now that there was no more danger Prompto dismissed his gun and he cheered. "Woo! That takes care of that!"

The front gate then opened up and revealed Cor and Noctis on the other side, just like the plan was supposed to go. "Noct!" Prompto shouted as he moved on ahead.

"Marshal. It's good to see you again," Ignis commented trailing just behind Prompto.

"Alright on your end?" Noctis asked.

"Right as rain. The Niffs couldn't take their eyes off us," Gladio replied.

"Thanks to you we were spared their attention," Cor said.

Shortly after he said that though, there was a voice from somewhere above. Looking up Cloud saw that there was a large airship and whomever was speaking was most likely on that very airship. Once the person was done talking, mainly showing that they had an annoyance towards Cor, the back of the ship opened up. A large mecha robot dropped to the ground along with a few more MT.

" _I guess there isn't much time to rest today,"_ Cloud thought to himself as he jumped out of the way from a laser attack that the mecha fired.

Right away he saw Prompto and Ignis head off to take out the few lingering MTs. Gladio, Cor, and Noctis on the other hand were dodging the MT attacks while trying to deal hits to the mecha. Cloud figured that Ignis and Prompto could handle themselves with the MTs as they did not prove to be as strong of a threat as the mecha that was firing bombs and shooting lasers. So he went to help the other three with taking down the mecha, which had the one Niflheim guy who was constantly gloating every time he attacked.

Cloud didn't focus on that though, he only narrowed in on the areas he saw as weak points in the mecha. He struck with his mind narrowed down and focused, making sure to dodge at the right times. The only thing that was hard was knowing when the mecha was going to do what attack, sometimes it was hard to move out the way of the stronger explosions but Cloud did what he could manage.

By the end of it, the mecha was taken down and the man inside continued to pledge his allegiance to the empire before the machine exploded. The force of it was much greater than anyone expected and Cloud found himself knocked back to the ground. When he got up he saw that there was no sign left of the mecha or even the one who was manning it. Whether he survived or not Cloud had no idea, but he felt like it was highly unlikely.

"Hey," Noctis ran over to him holding an odd shaped bottle in his hand. "You okay?"

"I feel fine at least," Cloud replied, though he knew he probably had at least a few scraps and bruises.

Noctis held out the bottle. "Still, just use this. I realize you probably didn't have any potions on you."

"This…" Cloud started to say as he took the bottle. "Is a potion?"

"Oh, yeah I guess I sure have figured they were different in your world. Probably are used differently too. You just crush it in your hand or break it over the skin if you have any injuries."

Noctis turned his head and pointed to Prompto who also was holding a similar shaped bottle. He pressed it against his shoulder and it broke into a blue shimmering light. It covered him briefly before fading away.

"Huh, I guess that's one way to do it," Cloud muttered before he broke the purposeful flimsy bottle in his hand. He felt a light wave over magic flow over his body, and any aches or pains that he had felt before were gone now.

"Yeah, guess that's just something else you gotta get used to being here," Noctis said as he held out a hand to help Cloud up.

Now that the base was clear, Cor complemented the ground before saying that he had to head off back to doing what he planned before. That left the group to retrieve the car and start heading towards the now open pathway on the other side.

Cloud, Gladio, Prompto, and Noctis were walking ahead while Ignis chose to drive the car slowly through the area. Though it was empty now that didn't stop Cloud from keeping a sharp eye out just in case, but he felt like he could relax for the time being.

"Ain't so bad out here once you get used to it," Gladio commented as they walked.

"Still a lot we haven't seen, though," Prompto said as a response.

Ignis was the nex to add into the conversation. "And a lot for us to do."

"Yeah," Prompto replied.

" _I guess it will be a new experience for all of us,"_ Cloud thought to himself rather than interjecting himself into the conversation. He felt like just taking a step back to let the friends chat among each other. He was already trailing at the end of the group anyway.

"Buck up. We're just getting started," Gladio said.

Cloud noticed Noctis stopped walking after that. He stared briefly down at the ground then looked up to where his friends were walking. It seemed he whispered quietly to himself, Cloud couldn't help but overhear it due to his enhanced hearing. It wasn't anything too invasive though, just a soft confident sounding 'yeah' and nothing more.

Though since he was just behind Noctis, he was now just at his side. He stopped for the moment to stand next to him. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, just a lot of thoughts I guess," Noctis replied before the two of them started to walk to catch up to the other three.

"Never really been out to see the world before?" Cloud asked.

Noctis shook his head. "Nope. First time really doing any of this. Traveling outside home, fighting the Empire, and stuff."

"First time for everything I guess."

"Was it like this for you? When you first went on a journey or something to save the world?"

"Kind of?" Cloud replied softly, trying to give it some thought. "I did travel the world, encountered a lot of things for the first time. So I guess in the end it's all the same."

Noctis smiled. "Good to know. If you managed through it, I feel like the five of us can make it too."

" _The five of us, huh?"_ Cloud mused.

He had only been in Eos just a couple days now and already Noctis and the others were very accepting of him. He wasn't sure what it was, but there was just an easy trust that had formed between them now, and Cloud found himself smiling at that aspect. It had been a long while since he reached out to make new friends, and now here he was. He knew the others back home would be proud of him at least. Now he just had to keep going and help Noctis and his friends continue on their journey.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah man it feels good to get back to this story again. I finally gave myself a push and got through to the end of this chapter. 
> 
> I still got some big plans ahead so I hope to see you all there!! Thank you all for the love on this story!!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very excited for this chapter. That is all I shall say :)

Once they were out of the base, the boys all got back into the car and they were off. Promtpo was cheering happily about finally getting out to see more about the world and Ignis was explaining what other regions were out there to see. Cloud did his best to listen in, learning the way of this world and what it had to offer.

"Further west lies the Cleigne region, whererin we'll find the town of Lestallum." Ignis went on to explain.

"Oh. Isn't that where Iris is headed?" Prompto asked.

"Barring delays she should've arrived by now. Maybe even had herself a Meteor."

Cloud flinched at the mention of the word. _"Couldn't be the same, could it? No, must just be another coincidence."_

"The Meteor of the Six?"

"The same," Ignis answered. "It's heat is harnessed to power Lestallum."

"Whoa. That sounds way cool," Prompto replied.

"I'm actually looking forward to this," Gladio added.

Cloud let out a long breath. He couldn't really hold back his unsettling feeling, not until he got some answers. "So um, what's this Meteor you're talking about?"

"It is a meteor that is said to have come crashing down during the age of the gods, though the rock never did hit the ground. The Astral known as Titan caught the rock upon his back and it has been there ever since."

Cloud hummed softly. "Well… nice to know."

Noctis looked at him strangely. "You got something against meteors?"

Cloud shifted slightly. "Yes actually. Sephiroth tried to summon one with magic, almost destroyed Gaia."

He didn't mean to say it so bluntly, but now that it had come out there was an awkward silence in the car. His people skills really needed some work. Not wanting to wait to make it worse he sighed and quickly spoke up to try and make things a bit better.

"Of course he was stopped and everything's fine. I just… I didn't expect to hear about such a thing as a…"

"Tourist sight to see?" Prompto offered.

"Yeah. That can work."

"Sorry…" Noctis said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess there are a lot more similarities or whatever between our worlds than I thought. Are you going to be okay though?"

"I'll be fine. Just some old memories that's all," Cloud answered simple.

"Well do let us know if you will need anything," Ignis said before he pulled the car into a gas station. "On a different note we should refill and restock on items we need."

"Sounds good," Noctis said before he got out of the car once it was parked.

Cloud got out to stretch his legs, while also taking in the sight of the lands around him. He could see mountains and hills off in the far distance. It was actually quite the sight, unlike anything he had seen. He may have traveled all over Gaia and seems so much of that world, but this was something fresh.

At first he had expected it to be similar. A world with rocks, trees, lakes and everything else. But there was just something unique about it compared to back home. The more he started out into this new world the more he began to wonder just what else was out there.

"Cloud! Hey Cloud!"

Cloud shook away his thoughts and saw Prompto was standing right next to him, his face glowing with excitement. "What?"

"I convinced Noct to let us go to the chocobo post! Chocobos! I literally can't wait!"

"I'm guessing they didn't really have chocobos back where you lived?"

"Nope! Insomnia was too big of a city for chocobos to actually live there. But I used to read about them all the time and looked up so many pictures and videos! But now I'll get to see them in person!"

"They are rather friendly creatures," Cloud said, recalling the memories. "Had some good fun racing them with my friends."

Prompto's eyes widened. "You got to race with them too!? That's even cooler! I hope we can get a chance to race some."

"Well if there is, you should know I already have the experience," Cloud smirked.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that! I bet within a few minutes I could become a chocobo master!"

Noctis came up from behind and wrapped an arm around Prompto. "Is it because you are already part chocobo? They'll just accept you as one of your own?"

"Hey! Come on! I am not a chocobo!"

"Sure. But we will know the truth once we get to the chocobo post," Noctis chuckled before letting go of Prompto.

They were ready to move on presumably to the chocobo post, but somehow a woman Gladio knew had convinced the five of them to gather some special frogs for her. Cloud watched, almost amused how Nocits couldn't seem to get a word in to her to tell her no so there was no other choice but to do it. But at least it would give them a good layout of the land.

Cloud also ended up learning about the Hunters and what hunts were, which were just tasks to take out beasts to earn some gil on the side. To someone like Cloud it was basically child's play, but he knew with his help they could take on a much stronger tougher beast. But for now their task was frogs, which was a bit out of his usual field, out of all their usual fields. They were going to try though, otherwise that woman Saina would probably have their heads.

It didn't take them too long though to find the frogs that were needed, and once they returned them to Sania they were finally free to go on their way. The five of them loaded back into the car and now they drove off to their new destination; the chocobo post.

With Cloud sitting in the back with Noctis and Prompto, he could practically feel the other blond bouncing in his seat. He couldn' be annoyed though, Prompto's excitement was rather fun to watch. But when they got to the ranch they were quick to learn that there was a beast by the name of Deadeye that was causing the chocobos to be too scared to be ridden.

"So we're going to take the hunt, right, Noct?" Prompto asked after they had talked with the man who ran the Chocobo Post.

"Yeah, I don't see why not. It would be nice to help."

"But you sure we'll be able to handle it. From the way Wiz talked about this Deadeye, it sounded pretty serious."

"But you guys are forgetting! We got Cloud on our side! We were already awesome together before but now we got an extra hand!" Prompto declare.

"Well that doesn't mean you get to slack," Gladio replied gruffly as he gave Prompto a light shove.

"No way! It'll take all of us to take out a beast like that!"

"Then I say we should get to it sooner or later, especially if we want to help those poor chocobos feel safe," Ignis replied.

"Let's go then, that way chocobo butt here can get his chocobo fix," Noctis chuckled as he headed towards the forested area where they would find Deadeye.

Cloud watched Prompto chase after Nocits, nearly tackling him to the ground. Though the two of them were both laughing as they pushed and shoved each other around. "Are they always like that?" Cloud asked as he moved to follow the two in the lead.

"Unfortunately most of the time they are," Ignis replied with a sigh. "But despite Prompto's ways of bringing out the childish side of Noct, it does actually do him good."

"Oh?"

"Noctis used to be a lot more closed off as a child due to…" Ignis stopped, pressing his lips together. "Various reasons. But when he met Prompto I watched him come out of that shell he had formed. Not even Gladio or I was able to break through as easily as Prompto did."

" _Almost sounds like me and Zack…"_

The old memories trailed in the back of his mind. Most of them are still a bit fuzzy, but after all of this time he was able to recall his Infantryman days much better now. He could remember the day he met Zack and how being around Zack made him feel more open to goofing around. It was just the way Zack was, serious and strong but also full of energy and kindness.

" _Maybe they're like me and Zack,"_ Cloud thought to himself.

They walked for a bit, soon following a path of destroyed trees. Deadeye was no doubt ahead of them but they tried to keep back as far as they could to avoid being spotted. The deeper they got to the forest, the more creatures seemed to be roaming around. They encountered a pack of creatures that Cloud learned were called Voretooths, but they were really not much of a challenge for him. The small group of beasts was wiped out and the five of them could press on.

Mist was beginning to surround them as they headed further, but soon they came to a small pathway created by sheets of metal and plant life. Gladio stepped ahead and signaled for the group to crawl through as quietly as they could. Overhead the beast growled, walking very close to where they were, but thankfully it did not notice them.

"Whoa that thing is huge!" Prompto whispered once they were out of the tunnel.

"We still need to follow it, but we should stay in its blind spot to avoid detection," Ignis added.

Heading further they stalked behind the beast all the way until they reached the ruins of some old building. There the mist had cleared and the beast was right in the open for attacking. It let out a growl suddenly, no doubt noticing the five, and it crouched down into an offensive stance.

"Weapons ready, looks like it has found it," Ignis replied as he summoned a pair of daggers.

Cloud summoned his own sword and took the lead jumping down towards the large beast. It was in fact huge, but Cloud knew he had fought bigger. This to him was just a runt out of everything else he fought. For the others though he knew it was probably going to be a challenge for them. While he was sure he could manage this beast all on his own he recalled again how the four had relied heavily on their teamwork to get the job done. If he really wanted to be helpful to them he was going to have to start being more aware of what they were doing and working alongside them.

The roar of the beast was still loud and caused him to jump back, trying not to be too directly in range. As he stood his ground he walked Noctis run up past him and threw out a red glowing flask. He threw it not at the beast, but a red barrel that was beneath it.

Fire erupted from underneath and Deadeye let out a strangled howl. When the fire started to die down, Cloud went to strike at its left side while Gladio went to its right. The beast was unable to know which way to attack stumbled back, shrieking in pain.

From above Noctis warped in with an attack directly onto Deadeye's face, just a few inches off from his only eye. Shortly after he called out for Prompto who shot right at the remaining eye with impressive accuracy.

Deadeye was completely blinded now and was struggling to get a clear focus where to move next. Each of the guys was moving around it in different directions, throwing off its sense of direction where and who it should be attacking. Noctis took the chance to throw another fire flask, this time right at Deadeye and the beast dropped to the ground in pain.

Taking his chances Cloud moved forward and sliced his sword along Deadeye's side. It was growing weaker now and it wouldn't take much more before the beast was gone. The five of them narrowed in their attacks and continued to fight until the beast gave out one final roar before slumping over.

With the task done, Prompt cheered loudly. "Woo all right! That wasn't so hard, see?"

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Noctis admitted. "How was that for you, Cloud?"

"I'm good," he replied.

"Let me guess, you've fought bigger or something?" Gladio asked.

Cloud couldn't exactly tell if he was just asking to be curious or if he was asking to be blunt. Even if his people skills weren't great he could understand the other three a lot easier than he could with Gladio. The man was very serious and stoic, almost like how Barret was when he first met the man. But if Gladio was anything like Barret, then there was a caring side underneath all that harsh exterior.

"Yeah I have actually, but this would have gone on much longer even if I was doing it by myself."

Gladio let out a "hmph" once again making it hard to tell just what he was thinking, but Cloud decided he would deal with that later if it came up again. They had to report the beast they had taken down first before heading back, but thankfully that didn't take all too long, and by the time they got back the chocobos were in their corrals again.

Wiz thanked them for doing the job and then let them, well mainly Prompto, know that they could rent the birds any time that they wanted. Prompto was unable to contain his excitement as he ran over to one of the corrals and slowly held out his hand to one of the chocobos.

"Aw man! They are just as soft as I thought! Yeah that's right, you're a soft precious bird aren't ya?"

"What a dork," Noctis chuckled before he headed over to one of the other corrals to pet a chocobo.

Cloud knew chocobos well enough and these did look like chocobos. There may have been slight differences in their features and build, but a chocobo was a chocobo. Moving closer to one of the pens Cloud reached out his hand and started to pet the birb. It gave out a soft kweh, showing that it was clearly enjoying the affection.

Suddenly the bird leaned forward and placed its head onto Cloud's shoulder and it let out another kweh. "Well you're awfully friendly." Cloud was laughing as he continued to pet the chocobo, letting it stay snuggled up against him.

"Hey look at that, ha ha! The chocobos have claimed him as one of their own," Prompto snickered.

"Well shouldn't you join him then? You are a part of the chocobo clan," Noctis replied.

"Yeah I think we need a picture of you two with your cousins," Gladio added with a hefty chuckle.

"Nooo," Prompto pouted. "What if I don't want to?"

Cloud turned around, trying his best not to show his smile. "You still want a picture of the chocobos right?"

"Yeah but…"

"Why not a group shot then?" Ignis suggested. "That way everyone can be happy."

"Yeah! Group shot! That's what we need! Everyone get up close with the chocobos! I'll set up the camera!"

Cloud stood in the back of the group, just a little behind Ignis. Prompto had pulled out a tripod and set up everything fairly quick and ran over once the time had started. They all smiled as the camera's flash went off.

"All right, love the lighting," Prompto said once he was back at his camera looking it over. "So could we rent some chocobos now? Could we? Please?"

"We should get to Lestallum first. Perhaps after we meet up with Iris we can find some time to rent for a couple days," Ignis offered.

"Great! That sounds like a good plan!"

Now that their pitstop to the chocobos was over, they could finally head back on the path to Lestallum. Once they were back on the road, Cloud looked out at the view, they were pretty high up in altitude now, and he could see even farther than he did back at the gas station.

After a little bit of being on the road Prompto pointed across the way. "Over there! Look! That's the old Meteor!"

Cloud turned to look at the landmark that was quite far from where the road was, but with its massive size it was easy to spot. It was unlike anything he had expected it to be. There were large pieces of ice or something else that were sticking out from the impact site making it even more impressive looking.

"It is, and it's still burning to this day," Ignis said, barely even glancing to the side to look.

Cloud listened, but mainly kept his focus on the strange meteor of this world. He heard them explain how it powered the city, but that really didn't mean too much to him anyways. It was just a power source, and it had been there for many years.

After a little while they came to a tunnel that was along the cliffside. Prompto was already snapping a couple shots with his camera as they drove through. "Wow! It's like we're warping into another dimension!"

"Well this will be the second time then for Cloud," Noctis laughed.

Cloud could only roll his eyes at the joke.

"Aw come on, I thought it was funny," Prompto replied, giving Cloud a nudge.

"Sure if you say so," Cloud said.

Prompto was going to say more, but he noticed that they were coming out from the tunnel. He let out a loud gasp as the light from outside the tunnel met their eyes. "Wow!"

"Nice," Gladio said softly as he looked ahead.

Noctis hummed. "This place is pretty big."

Cloud looked around now that they had left the tunnel, the city was rather large but one thing he noticed most was the difference in temperature. It was harder to tell before but now that Ignis had slowed down the car to drive down to a parking spot, he definitely felt it. The heat was much stronger at this level and he knew once the car stopped and the air conditioning was turned off it would probably be worse.

Slowly Ignis pulled into a parking spot that was on a lower level than the main street. He backed up into the spot and finally turned off the car. Now all of the guys seemed to notice the heat as they stepped out of the car.

"Any chance of sleeping in a nice room tonight?" Prompto asked with a heavy sigh.

"Yes," Ignis answered. "I'm certain we can secure… suitable accommodations nearby."

Cloud stretched his body slightly after sitting for so long in the car. He was trying his best to ignore the heat but it was very warm, almost like when he was down in Gongaga. It was funny though since Lestallum seemed to be farther north based on where they were driving. The curiosity of why that was entered Cloud's mind and he knew he would have to ask about it later.

"Cloud!"

For a moment Cloud thought he was hearing things. That voice did not belong to any of the four that he was traveling with. That voice belonged to someone else… someone who he had not expected to hear again, not for a long while at least.

Turning slowly to look where the voice had come from, he completely froze in place. His eyes were fixating several feet in front of him, trying to make sense of what he was seeing, or actually who he was seeing. None of it was making any sense though and he wasn't sure if he was just imagining things or not.

He finally managed to take a few steps forward, wanting to prove to himself if he was crazy or not. All he could say was one single word, a single name that was hanging on the tip of his lips, just waiting to be said.

"Z-Zack?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heheh, was anyone expecting that? Zack??? Could it be??
> 
> Find out next time :D Thank you all so so much for reading!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Have I left you all on the edge of your sits for long enough? Well now it is time to get back to it!! 
> 
> ALSO THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR OVER 300 KUDOS T.T I never thought I would make it this far, but that is all because of all of you lovely people reading this!! So a big old thank you to you guys!!!

Cloud had said the name, the very name of the person he knew that he shouldn't have been seeing. Yet even after rubbing his eyes and looking again, he still stood there. A very familiar man with distinctive black hair that spiked out in various directions. Though the clothes that he wore were completely different from what Cloud remembered. Now his outfit consisted of a black t-shirt and blue jeans.

He still was smiling widely. "Cloud!"

Before Cloud could do anything else Zack ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. Even though Cloud had gained some muscles since his last time with Zack, the man was still the stronger between the two. He always would be in Cloud's eyes.

"Z-Zack…" it was still the only word that Cloud could manage. From a quick glance to the side he could see that the other four were giving him strange looks. He figured they couldn't make heads or tails of the situation.

Zack finally stepped away, and Cloud could see how wide his grin was. He hadn't seen Zack's smile… well in a very long time. It was still almost too crazy to believe but he really had been hugged by him just now and there was no way anyone could ever replicate a genuine Zack Fair hug.

"Okay, can someone please explain what is going on here cause I'm reeeeelly confused," Prompto said.

"I don't even know… I thought," Cloud sighed as he placed a hand to his hand. "I thought at first I was going crazy, but if you guys can see him… then…"

"Hey buddy you are not going crazy. I really am here."

"And by here do you mean-" Ignis started to say, but he was quickly cut off by Zack.

"Yup! I am also from Cloud's world!"

"So they're just sending in more of you now?" Gladio asked, half joking from his tone.

"Well sort of?" Zack answered. "It was more like I wanted to come to help out and stuff! I haven't been on an adventure with Cloud, let alone just an adventure in general, in a long time!"

"So we should be expecting more of you guys to just show up everywhere?" Noctis asked.

Zack shook his head. "Nah I'll be the last guy to show up. I just really wanted to join in on all the action."

"Well you should know that this isn't all action, we have important business to attend to here," Ignis stated. "We should head to the Leville as soon as possible. We can assist the rest of the situation with uh," Ignis paused for a moment and looked Zack over again.

"Zack. Zack Fair," Zack answered.

"Well let's get a move on then so we can get to discussion. No point in standing out here in this heat for too long. Zack can explain his event once we are settled."

"Sounds like a plan!" Zack agreed before he gave a friendly shove to Cloud's shoulder. "Just wait until you guys see the town."

"Uh shouldn't we like, do introductions though?" Prompto asked.

"No need, I already know who you guys are," Zack replied and right away he chuckled a little nervously when he saw the concern on the other's faces. "Nothing big to worry about. The person who sent me here, who also sent Cloud here, she had been giving me the details of everything that you guys had been doing since Cloud arrived."

"Well… okay then…still a bit weird," Noctis replied before he turned to face the city. "Let's get to the Leville already."

They made their way through the buildings, passing by many different stalls that had snacks and other good looking items. Zack was just walking along Cloud's side, staring at everything that they passed with hunger in his eyes. Cloud could only assume he was really hungry, but he didn't ask. He didn't even know what he wanted to ask in the first place. Part of him still wanted to think that this was all a dream. All of this had just been his crazy imagination and nothing had actually happened.

Zack was alive. He was really real and right besides him now. He still thought back to the hug he was given, it was such a Zack thing and he had nearly forgotten about it. It had been that long, aside from the PTSD, and he had been so caught off guard from it. The last time he had seen Zack it was only briefly, all for that one moment against Sephiroth. On top of that he never really even saw Zack, just sensed his presence and heard his voice.

He had overcome so much since then. The guilt was no more, but there was something else wriggling in his mind. It was all about Zack and just why he was here. There had to be some reason, right? He couldn't just show up cause he wanted to. That made no sense at all… at least from what Cloud believed.

" _When I get the chance to be alone with him I'll ask,"_ Cloud thought to himself.

Suddenly the ground shook for a brief moment, pulling Cloud away from his thoughts. Turning his attention to the others he saw that everyone else was looking over at Noctis. Ignis had just asked him if anything was wrong but the raven haired young man shook his head.

"My head just started throbbing."

"You alright?" Prompto asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get into the Leville."

The six of them, six… Cloud had to remember that now, headed into the Leville. It was a rather quant looking from the lobby and the other four moved out to sit down as they waited. Gladio pulled out his phone and texted Iris right away after that.

"All right, Iris says she will be right down. Now we just need to wait."

"While we wait, I'm going to chat with Cloud for a bit if that's okay," Zack stated. "Nothing to worry about, just needing to catch up with my buddy!"

The other men nodded as Zack walked towards the entrance and Cloud followed behind. Once they stepped outside Zack moved a little to the left to be out of the way of the door. "So…" he started slowly. "Where do we begin?"

"How about, how the hell are you even here?" Cloud stated far too bluntly than he should have.

"Yeah I guess that is probably where we should start…" Zack replied as he rubbed the back of his neck. "How do I put this… I wanted to join you."

"Join me?"

"On this adventure!" Zack replied. "Like I know you're not here just for fun and stuff, and we do need to be serious about everything, but I just really wanted to be a part of it. We never got a lot of chances before to really team up. Sure we had a few good times, but something like this? Man this is just really great."

"But how did you ever get here?" Cloud asked as he felt his throat go dry. He knew what he needed to ask, even if it wasn't going to be pleasant. "Zack your-"

"I know what I am," Zack finished quickly. "But that's back home in Gaia. This is Eos. I never was born nor died here. I don't exist here at all so if I am alive here no one's going to know. No one but you and me of course. And for the 'how' part something with Aerith and the Cetra and gods and stuff. I wasn't fully understanding it but Aerith seemed to get it. She says 'hello' by the way."

"Oh uh…" Cloud looked around as if he expected Aerith to show up next. "Hi?"

"She's the one who has been able to watch over you during the journey so far. I don't know if she sees it like a movie or something else, but she was keeping me up to date before I came. Anyways I think that about covers it? Anything else on your mind?"

Cloud tried to think about it, trying to see what else he could say. But overall his mind was still trying to comprehend that Zack was currently alive. He was standing right in front of him, breathing and rambling like he always did. For a moment the world felt like it was spinning, everything blurred out around him.

"Whoa Cloud, hold on there buddy! Can't have you passing out!," Zack grabbed on to Cloud and held him securely. "You feeling okay, Spike?"

Spike. Now that was a name he had not heard in many years. It was the nickname that Zack had made up for him after all, so it made sense that he wouldn't have heard it anywhere else in the past several years. But it felt nice to hear it again.

"I'm fine," Cloud replied. "You know this is a lot to take in. Give me some time, okay?"

"Sure thing, but we can handle this right? I can't wait to actually get to fight alongside you… I kind of wished I could have with, well you know who, but you had it handled."

Cloud smiled a little. "You sure you won't be too rusty?"

"Rusty? You kidding me?" Zack laughed. "I've just been storing up all my energy and I'm more ready than ever! Just wait and see once we head out there you'll see what I got!"

"Do you even have a weapon?" Cloud asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, well I thought about taking the old buster sword, but you did such a nice job with the restoration I didn't want to ruin it. So since apparently this currency is the same here I was planning to buy myself a weapon as soon as I could, but I kind of got distracted looking around the other shops."

"Well I'm sure we can talk to the guys about that, there's probably a place here anyways."

"Yeah, I gotcha. Speaking of, let's head back in."

The two of them were ready to head back in when Zack grabbed Cloud by the shoulder. "Oh! I got something to show you tomorrow! Don't let me forget!"

Cloud blinked slowly, trying to readjust to having Zack around who always seemed to be full of such a great energy. "What is it though?"

"Can't tell you that yet! It's a surprise!"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Well I guess I will try to remember something I know nothing about."

Zack gave him a nudge as they started walking again. "That's the spirit!"

Now back inside they saw that there was a younger girl talking to the other four. Cloud could only assume that this was Iris, Gladio's younger sister. She turned to face Cloud and Zack a moment later and her eyes seemed to be lit up with wonder. Running right up to Cloud she smiled. "So you must be Cloud! It's nice to meet you!"

"Yeah," Cloud nodded. "Iris, right?"

Iris nodded. "That's right! I haven't heard the whole story yet, but I think that it's totally cool that you're from another world!" A few seconds later, she turned to face Zack. "And you are?"

"I'm Zack," Zack replied as he placed a hand over his chest. "Just kind of met up with everyone, but I'm also from Cloud's world."

Iris clapped her hands together. "Amazing! I can't wait to get to know you guys some more! BUt for now…" she turned around to look back at the others. "How about we get up to the room and wait for Jared and Talcott?"

The other four nodded and made their way towards the stairs. Cloud and Zack moved to catch up as Iris walked alongside them. "So how did you guys even get here? Noct never really explained that yet… He just left it really vague! But I'm really curious!"

"Uh… well for me I kind of fell out of the sky into a lake," Cloud answered. "Probably not the most pleasant way of coming to a new world."

Iris laughed. "Wow, that's really something. Was Noct fishing at the time? Of course he probably was, I wouldn't expect any less from him. But what about you Zack?"

"Me? Well I think I had it a little bit easier than Cloud here, I was just dropped outside of Lestallum. Been exploring all the shops since then until everyone arrived."

"Lucky you," Cloud grumbled as they made it to the top of the stairs.

Zack reached over and ruffled Cloud's hair. "Hey come on loud, falling into a lake isn't the worst thing that you've gone through."

Playfully, Cloud batted his hand away. "Yeah whatever."

Soon the seven of them were in the room waiting for whomever else had to meet up with them. An older man and a young boy came within a short amount of time and Cloud couldn't help but stare, even if he was standing off in the corner to give some room for the others to talk. He wasn't sure who this boy was exactly, but out of natural habit he was reminded of Denzel. A small ache persisted in his chest and he tried to shove it off.

" _I'll be home eventually… I'm not abandoning you again. I really hope that you don't think that… Denzel, please stay strong for me."_

The man and the young boy, Jared and Talcott, didn't stay for long. Mainly they were just there to greet Noctis and then head off for the night. Once they were gone the talk between the group became a bit more serious. Zack and Cloud listened in as Iris talked about what happened during the attack in Insomnia and then went on to mention that Lady Lunafreya, the girl Noctis was to marry, was actually still alive and had just recently been in Lestallum.

Cloud still didn't know all too much about her, but he could see how the word that she was safe brought a smile to Noctis's face. Whomever she was, she really did mean something to Noctis and the relief that she lived was more than enough to brighten his mood from before.

When the talking was done Iris left to go stay in her own room, wishing everyone a good night before she did. After she left Ignis turned to face Cloud and Zack. "Now since we do have once again another member to our entourage, I did make sure to book a second room for the two of you. That should work out accordingly, yes?"

"Yeah that's fine! Sorry that you had to spend a little extra though on it," Zack replied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"No worries, it's nothing that we can't make back with taking on a few hunts while we are here. Do you have a weapon?"

"Not yet, but I was planning on buying one tomorrow! I made sure to come with a little money, so I got it covered."

"Well we still have some hours left in the night, why don't we head out into the town for some dinner and on the way pick up a weapon," Ignis suggested.

"Hell yeah!" Prompto exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "Some food sounds great right about now! Some of those stalls earlier, oh boy, that stuff looked tasty!"

"Sounds like a plan," Gladio agreed.

"I also agree!" Zack added. "I am huuuungry! I haven't eaten in… well uh… a while ha ha!" he started to laugh a bit nervously, going to rub the back of his neck again. The other four seemed to just think of it being an awkward moment for him, but Cloud knew better than that. He knew what the true meaning of those words were.

But putting that aside, Cloud knew that he too was also hungry. The day had been long, and with Zack showing up it just added to the already craziness that was everything else. It still almost was hard to believe Zack was here with him now. He was talking and laughing, just like back in the old days. Though he knew for a fact it would not be able to last forever, Cloud was going to take in every moment that he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of thoughts how I wanted to go about it with Zack being there. So I hope it all was good and that you guys enjoyed. I still got plenty more ideas in store and I can't wait to show them!!


	17. Chapter 17

All six men made their way through the alleyways of Lestallum, following the wondrous scents that filled the air. Eventually they came to a place to eat that was called the Surgate's Beanmine The six of them pushed two tables together and sat down waiting for someone to take their order.

"Aw man this is great!" Zack exclaimed. "Haven't had any good food in so long."

Cloud gave him a quick look and Zack just shrugged. "What? It's true! Plus this is food I've never had before, I'm excited."

Cloud knew that Zack could act carefree and energetic but he wasn't too sure how well that would go around the other guys. He could tell that they were probably a little suspicious of Zack since he did just show up, but he hoped in time that they could come to trust him. It would still just take a little bit for them to get used to Zack… well being himself.

"I suppose that means you must be fairly busy back in your own world?" Ignis asked.

"Uh yeah you could say that," Zack smiled. "Always so much to do and stuff."

"And no one is going to miss the two of you while you are gone?" Gladio then asked. "I've been meaning to ask it before, but since Cloud didn't really have any idea why he was here but you do, what does that mean for the friends you have back home?"

"Oh that? Well," Zack laughed a little. "No one's really going to miss little old me, but for Cloud, I think Aerith may leave a note for the others. She'll find some way to explain the situation."

"And this Aerith…?" Ignis started. "Who is she if I may ask."

Zack started to smile happily this time as he leaned back in his chair. "She's the best girlfriend ever, and to help clear up the situation and she has her ways about connections and stuff. Like there is a goddess in our world, Minvera. Aerith can communicate with her and she said that the gods of your world reached out to ask for help."

Now that got the other four men to really focus on Zack's story. Cloud could see how wide each of their eyes had gotten. "So this does have the Astrals involvement," Ignis replied. "I think that does help clear up some of the matter."

A moment later a server came by to take their orders. Quickly they put down what they wanted from the menu. They ordered their servings of skewers and curry platters and soon enough they were left alone to continue their conversation where they had left off.

"So we got some stuff, but we still don't have the 'why' part," Noctis added. "Why do they think we need help?"

Zack shrugged. "I don't know, Aerith never told me if she knew that part. All we know is that some god or two called out to Minvera and asked for help and that's why Cloud was brought here. Then there's me who just wanted to lend an extra hand."

"Hmm," Gladio grumbled as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. "So this Aerith of yours, she is like the Oracle of your world?"

"Oracle?"

"The Oracle is one who can communicate with the Six. She also has the power to heal those afflicted with the Starscourge," Ignis answered.

"I don't know anything about a Starscourge, but Aerith was a good healer," Cloud answered.

He wasn't all too sure how much he could talk about Aerith. He did know what made her special, but was it really his place to just talk about that stuff? As he thought over how he was going to say it, Zack suddenly cut in for him instead. Honestly it was the better choice as Zack was a natural talker.

"Well I don't think we really have anything like an 'Oracle' but Aerith is a part of a race called the Cetra. I don't think either me or Cloud have the expertise to explain what a Cetra is though. Maybe we can just say it's close enough? There are a lot of other similarities between our worlds anyways."

"I suppose so. Now the next question… Minvera, what is she the goddess of?" Ignis asked.

Zack was the one to answer again. "She's the goddess of the Lifestream."

"Oh yeah!" Prompto finally interjected after being the most quiet of the group. "Cloud, you told us about that before, right?"

"Yeah," Cloud nodded. "I didn't think to mention Minvera though, hadn't crossed my mind."

"Well I think it helps clear up some of our questions," Ignis said before he adjusted his glasses. "I am sure along the way we will have more, I already have a feeling you two may have some of your own, but I think we have spent far too long talking on such serious matters. I think we can take a breath and enjoy our meal."

"Sounds good to me!" Zack cheered as he started into his plate of food, staring with the curry dish.

The group ate up their food, now with some occasional idle chatter from Prompto about King's Knight. Besides that, there weren't a whole lot of other things that they talked about. It gave Cloud plenty of time at least to think to himself again. No matter how much they learned new things, there were always more questions to be had. Then there was still the part that Zack was actually with him. Even though he had time to think it over and eat something, it was still almost too hard to believe over everything else.

Zack was there though. He was sitting right next to him eating away at the rather tasty food that this little place had to offer. It felt like the old days back at Shinra, when the two of them would head out to lunch together and crack jokes or talk about home. Overall bringing back the good, pleasant memories of Zack was welcomed in Cloud's mind.

"Okay you know what," Zack said, standing up once he finished his food. "I told Cloud I had a surprise to show him tomorrow, but I don't think I can wait anymore. So all of you guys get to see it right now!"

"A surprise?" Noctis asked. "What kind of surprise could you have here?"

Zack was grinned widely. "Just come on and see!"

Zack started walking off and turned to see if everyone was going to follow. Cloud gave one look to Zack and then the group. He offered a small shrug. "Let's find out what he wants to show."

After that the five of them followed after Zack, who was heading down the pathways of alleyways in Lestallum. They walked for a bit as Zack continued to navigate and everything they were coming towards an opening from the alleyway. Before they could exit out though, Zack turned around and placed his hands on his hips.

"Okay everyone! You ready to see what surprise I got for Cloud?"

"Yeah! Come on and show us already! You're leaving us really vague and in suspense!" Prompto replied.

"I will admit, I am a slight bit intrigued," Ignis added. "Zack's enthusiasm does make it all the more curious."

"And what about you Cloud," Zack asked as he looked directly at Cloud. "This surprise is for you after all."

"Uh, excited I guess?" Cloud said, giving a small shrug.

"Oh come on, Cloud! You can show a little more emotion than that!"

Cloud couldn't help but let a smile show, Zack's energy and positivity was at it again. "Okay fine, I'm excited. Just get it over already."

"Okay!" Zack stepped into the opening and the group could see that there was a tarp covering something. He moved closer to it and with a dramatic pause he yanked off the tarp and held out his arms in presentation. "Ta da!"

Cloud's eyes widened as he stepped almost couldn't believe what he was staring at, but he knew there was no mistaking his all too familiar motorcycle. "No way, Zack how did you…"

"You think I'd come here unprepared? It was a bit tricky, but we managed to get me and Fenrir here all safely in one piece. Besides it would have gotten a bit cramped in the car anyways so this is a way to make things easier!"

The guys started to come closer, surrounding the motorcycle. Each of them had their own curious or amazed look as they examined the vehicle. Cloud just smiled as he ran his hand over it, happy to see yet another familiar sight in this world.

"Wow!" Prompto said. "So this is your bike, Fenrir?"

"Yup, this is it," Cloud answered.

"Not quite what I expected," Gladio said with a hum. "But looks pretty cool."

Ignis nodded. "Impressive for sure."

"Oh! Cloud! Don't forget to show them the thing."

Noctis raised an eyebrow. "The… thing?"

Cloud smiled as he moved towards the front of the bike. "You guys may want to take a step back."

Once the guys did so, Cloud clicked the secret button by the control panel and the sides of the motorcycle clicked open. There was another set of collective gasps from the guys after that.

"It even has a secret compartment?" Ignis asked.

Noctis was looking at the swords with an impressed expression. "Wow and you have all of these swords stored in there? No wonder stuff like the armiger was new to you."

"Dude! It's like he has his own armiger in the motorcycle!" Prompto interjected.

"You know, I guess you're right."

"So now at least we can have a bit more space in the car again," Gladio grinned. Finally I can stretch out in the back again."

"Yeah but what about Zack?" Prompto asked. "Unless the two of you were going to ride it?"

"Well," Zack started. "I thought that could be a good plan for the most part. I always wanted to get a ride on this anyways. So can we Cloud?"

Cloud had nothing against that. Normally he didn't have anyone else ride with him, seeing as how fast he would normally go. But he could make an expectation for Zack. "Sure, fine by me."

"Aw! I want a ride though on the super fast motorcycle!" Prompto pouted. "I want to see how fast it can really go!"

"Perhaps another time when we are not on an important quest," Ignis replied. "For now we should focus on what we need to get done."

"Yeah I know… it's just so cool," Prompto said with a sigh.

Cloud started to pull out the sword pieces, putting them together. He could see that Noctis was eyeing him again as he did so. "Something else you want to say?"

"No, nothing. I just didn't expect all those swords to fit together like that. It's cool."

"Thanks, it's custom made. I guess I can use this like the other sword? Putting it in the armiger?"

"Yup it works just like before, just concentrate and that's it," Noctis replied before he looked over at Zack. "I guess it would help if you could access it too, since you know, you are coming with us."

"Aw sweet! That's totally easier than having to lug the sword around wherever I go."

Cloud hummed for a moment before he put his Fusion Sword in the armiger and pulled out the sword that was bought for him. "You know Zack, you said you needed a sword right? Why don't you take this one?"

"Sounds like a plan to me," Zack said before taking the sword from Cloud.

After that Noctis granted Zack access to the armiger and once he figured out how to store his weapon they decided it would be best to head back to the Leville for the night. Cloud locked up his motorcycle, still happy to have it back and joined back with the group.

As they walked Zack brushed up against Cloud. "Okay actually, I do have one more surprise, but that one is seriously going to have to wait for tomorrow."

"Just how many surprises could you even bring with you?" Prompto asked as he looked back at the two. "You got a whole freaking motorcycle here with you, what more could there be?"

Zack just smiled, a mischievous glint filled his eyes. "Oh you know, there are just some things that are easier than others. But this other one is a bit more unique."

"And you won't give any more clues I guess?" Cloud asked, knowing what the answer was going to be.

"Well I coooould, but you guys would never guess it. You just have to wait!"

Cloud rolled his eyes before giving Zack a small shove. "Fine, you be that way."

"I'm always that way!"

Cloud chuckled. It almost felt like he was dreaming, having Zack back here with him, but every moment that went by was truly real. He couldn't help but reiterate to himself how happy he actually felt to have his best friend back at his side. He had no idea what would happen when they returned home, if they even could, but he figured he could leave that to be thought about later. All that he needed right now was to focus on the adventure ahead of them, and just what Zack's other special surprise could possibly be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2020 is over and 2021 is on it's way! Man this year has gone by really fast, but of course it was a fun time writing this story and others! Thank you all so much for reading as always. It really helped through the year and all. 
> 
> So see you next chapter in the next year!!


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